The Nasdaq climbed while the S&P 500 and Dow fell. Retail sales slumped in January, though industrial production rose. Airline and tech stocks surged while gold and pharma stocks dropped.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 81.13 points or 0.4% to 20,026.77, the S&P 500 edged down 0.44 points or less than a tenth of a% to 6,114.64 and the narrower Dow fell 165.35 points or 0.4% to 44,546.08.The Commerce department released a report showing retail sales slumped by much more than expected in January. The report said retail sales slid by 0.9% in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7% in December.
A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production rose by more than expected in January, although the increase was largely due to a weather-related surge by utilities output. The Fed said industrial production climbed by 0.5% in January after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.0% in December.
Major sectors showed only modest moves while computer hardware stocks extended Thursday's rally, driving the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index up by 2.9% to a record closing high. Airline stocks were significantly strong , as reflected by the 2.3% surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Gold stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 4.2% nosedive by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Pharmaceutical stocks too notably moved downwards, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 1.7%.
Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index spiked by 3.7% and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4%, although Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the uptrend and slid by 0.8%. the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.4%.
In the bond market, treasuries extended the strong upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 5.3 bps to 4.47%.
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