The performance of stocks fluctuated during Friday's trading, with major averages slightly increasing and decreasing throughout the day to eventually close with a small difference.
The S&P 500 saw a minimal decrease by 3.19 points or 0.1 percent to finish at 4,890.97, and the Nasdaq lowered by 55.13 points or 0.4 percent to close at 15,455.36. In contrast, the narrow-focused Dow increased by 60.30 points or 0.2 percent to reach a fresh record closing high of 38,109.43.
Despite the varying results of the day, all major averages showed an increase for the week: the S&P 500 rose by 1.1 percent, the Nasdaq followed at 0.9 percent and the Dow was up by 0.7 percent.
The unstable trading on Wall Street was due to a balance between the discouraging earning news from semiconductor titan Intel (INTC) versus less severe than anticipated consumer price inflation data.
Intel's shares drastically dropped by 11.9 percent following a report that showed better than expected fourth quarter results, but the first quarter guidance was lacking.
In the meantime, a report released before trading commenced revealed a considerable slow down in the annual rate growth of core consumer prices in December. This report, excluding food and energy prices, showed a decrease from 3.2 percent in November to 2.9 percent in December, when economists were predicting it to dwindle to 3.0 percent.
This annual inflation result, which is favored by the Federal Reserve, was included in the Commerce Department's monthly report on personal income and spending.
Commenting on the report, Larry Tentarelli, Chief Technical Strategist of Blue Chip Daily Trend Report, stated, "Today's inflation report paves the way for the Fed to decrease interest rates. We predict that the first rate cut will be in May or June, based on recent strong GDP data and jobs data."
"If jobs or economic data soften a bit and inflation continues to drop quickly, the possibility of a rate cut in March could rise, but that is not our primary expectation yet," he added.
Traders may also have been unwilling to undertake significant transactions preceding the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement next week.
Though the Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates stable, traders will be probing for indications about the timing of imminent highly anticipated rate cuts.
The Dow's minor increase was supported by a surge of 7.1 percent in the shares of American Express (AXP), following the financial services company's announcement of its fourth-quarter results that fell short of expectations but projected robust results for 2024.
