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Financial Markets 01/23 09:27
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is drifting in mixed trading on
Friday, as a zigzag week punctuated by loud threats and pullbacks heads toward
a quieter close.
The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading and on track to
finish a second straight week with a modest loss. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average was down 263 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time, and the
Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.
Intel tugged on the market after tumbling 15.6%. The chip company reported
better results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. But more attention
was on its forecast for the first three months of this year, which fell short
of Wall Street's expectations.
Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said shortages of supplies are
affecting the entire industry, and Intel expects available supply to hit a
bottom early this year before improving in the spring and beyond. CEO Lip-Bu
Tan highlighted the company's opportunities created by the
artificial-intelligence era.
Moves in the U.S. bond and foreign-currency markets, meanwhile, were more
modest following sharp swings earlier in the week. Global investors showed some
inclination to dump U.S. investments after President Donald Trump initially
threatened 10% tariffs for European countries for opposing his having
Greenland. Not only did prices for U.S. Treasury bonds tumble, sending their
yields higher, the value of the U.S. dollar also slid against other currencies.
Markets found some relief after Trump said Wednesday he had reached "the
framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland" and called off the
tariffs, though few details are available about it.
Gold's price nevertheless rose again Friday and got closer to $5,000 per
ounce in a signal that investors are still looking for something safer to own
amid all the uncertainty.
On Wall Street, Capital One Financial sank 4.3% after reporting a weaker
profit for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. It also said it was buying
Brex, which helps businesses issue corporate cards, for $5.15 billion in cash
and stock.
On the winning side of the market was SLB, which added 1.7% after reporting
a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The oil field
services provider also raised its dividend 3.5%, while CEO Olivier Le Peuch
said revenue improved from the prior quarter across all its four geographies
for the first time since the spring of 2024.
CSX climbed 3.9% even though the railroad reported a weaker profit than
analysts expected. Some analysts highlighted the company's forecast for how
much more operating profit it expects to retain from each $1 of revenue during
2026.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit and offered some support for
stocks.
Helping to contain yields was a survey that said U.S. consumers'
expectations for inflation in the upcoming year improved to 4%. While that's
well above the 2% inflation that the Federal Reserve targets, it's still the
lowest such reading in a year for the survey by the University of Michigan.
That kind of improvement can help avoid a worst-case scenario the Fed has
been desperate to avoid, one where expectations for high inflation trigger a
vicious cycle of behavior that only worsens inflation.
Overall sentiment among U.S. consumers, meanwhile, was also a touch stronger
than economists expected. That could help keep them spending and the main
engine of the U.S. economy humming. A separate preliminary report from S&P
Global suggested growth is continuing for U.S. business activity.
The yield of the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.24% from 4.26% late
Thursday
In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in Europe after rising across much
of Asia.
Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.3% after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest
rate unchanged, as many investors expected. The central bank just raised the
policy rate to 0.75% in December and has been slowly pulling it higher from
below zero.
Global markets have calmed following a surge higher for long-term government
bond yields in Japan early in the week, sparked by worries that Japan's Prime
Minister Sanae Takaichi might make moves that would add heavily to the
government's already big debt.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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