Wall Street ends mostly flat after records, logs third winning week

U.S. markets closed mostly flat Friday, capping a third winning week out of four.

Wall Street closed the week with little fanfare on Friday, ending its third winning week in the last four. The S&P 500 inched down by less than 0.1% after reaching an all-time high on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 142 points, or 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite rose slightly to post its own record.

Railway stocks drew attention as Norfolk Southern jumped 2.5% following reports it’s in merger talks with Union Pacific to form North America's largest railroad. However, Union Pacific fell 1.2% amid concerns about regulatory hurdles.

Netflix was among the biggest drags, sliding 5.1% despite beating profit expectations. Analysts attributed the drop to its already strong year-to-date gains. American Express also fell 2.3% after reporting slowing growth in new card issuances, despite beating forecasts. Exxon Mobil lost 3.5% after a Paris arbitration ruling allowed Chevron’s $53 billion deal to acquire Hess to proceed. Chevron ended down 0.9%.

On the positive side, strong quarterly results lifted several financial stocks. Regions Financial surged 6.1%, Comerica rose 4.6%, and Charles Schwab gained 2.9%.

By the closing bell, the S&P 500 had dipped 0.57 points to 6,296.79. The Dow dropped 142.30 to 44,342.19, while the Nasdaq added 10.01 to finish at 20,895.66.

Bond yields eased slightly as U.S. consumer inflation expectations fell. A University of Michigan survey showed Americans now expect 4.4% inflation over the next year, down from last month’s 5%.

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