Stock indexes edge mostly lower; oil rises

Wall Street capped a record-setting week with a day of mostly listless trading Friday that left the three major U.S. stock indexes essentially flat.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed slightly lower. The Nasdaq composite eked out a tiny gain, giving the tech-heavy index its fourth record-high close in a week.

Investors mostly focused on the latest batch of company earnings from retailers and other companies, as well as new data indicating that U.S. retail sales in July were more sluggish than expected.

Materials companies fell the most. Energy stocks led the gainers as crude oil prices rose again.

While the retail sales data may have dimmed some traders’ views on the economy, most of the selling was likely a reflection of some investors locking in profits while the market remains near its all-time high, said JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief strategist.

“It’s a summer Friday on a week that we were higher,” Kinahan said. “It’s more of a ‘Why take unnecessary risks? Take some profits, go home happy.’ ”

The Dow fell 37.05 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,576.47. The S&P 500 index lost 1.74 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,184.05. The declines pulled both indexes slightly below their most-recent all-time highs set Thursday.

The Nasdaq bucked the trend, adding 4.49 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,232.89. The Nasdaq also closed at a record high last Friday, Tuesday and Thursday. It’s now up 11 percent over the past seven weeks, the longest winning streak for the index in more than four years.

So far this year, the Dow is up 6.6 percent, the S&PO 500 has gained 6.9 percent and the Nasdaq is up 4.5 percent.

Strong job growth, more stable oil prices and a crop of better-than-expected company earnings have helped lift stocks in recent weeks to record territory.

This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Stock indexes edge mostly lower; oil rises."