U.S. Stocks Fluctuate In Afternoon Trading But Close Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in morning trading on Friday, stocks fluctuated in the afternoon but still ended the day firmly negative. The major averages extended the steep drop seen on Thursday, with the Dow ending the session at its lowest closing level since early December.

The Dow and the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the unchanged in late-day trading, but moved lower going into the close. The Dow slid 232.85 points or 0.7 percent to 34,079.18, the Nasdaq tumbled 168.65 points or 1.2 percent to 13,548.07 and the S&P 500 fell 31.39 points or 0.7 percent to 4,348.87.

For the week, the Dow and the Nasdaq plunged by 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, while the S&P 500 slumped by 1.6 percent.

The sustained weakness on Wall Street came amid lingering geopolitical concerns as the Ukrainian government and Russian state-controlled media continued to exchanged accusations of cease-fire violations in the eastern part of the country.

News that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have agreed to meet in Europe next week had eased concerns about an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, but traders remain wary.

Traders may have been reluctant to hold significant positions going into the long weekend due to the Presidents Day holiday on Monday.

Uncertainty about the outlook for monetary policy also continued to weigh on the markets ahead of an anticipated interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtors released a report unexpectedly showing a sharp increase in existing home sales in the month of January.

NAR said existing home sales spiked 6.7 percent to an annual rate of 6.50 million in January after tumbling 3.8 percent to a revised rate of 6.09 million in December.

The substantial rebound surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to slump by 1.3 percent to a rate of 6.10 million from the 6.18 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected jump, existing home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 6.65 million in January of 2021.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Conference Board showed an unexpected pullback by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index fell by 0.3 percent in January after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.7 percent in December.

The dip came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Oil service stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 2.1 percent.

The weakness among oil service stocks came amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, with crude for March delivery falling $0.69 to $91.07 a barrel.

Considerable weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent drop by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

Airline, tobacco and semiconductor stocks also showed notable moves to the downside, while most of the other major sectors ended the day showing more modest declines.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both dipped by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries extended the notable upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4 basis points to 1.932 percent.

Looking Ahead

Developments in Ukraine over the long weekend are likely to impact trading early next week, while traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on consumer confidence, personal income and spending, and durable goods orders.