It was a choppy end to a down week for stocks as investors looked ahead to next week's critical inflation update.
Amid relatively bare economic and earnings calendars, today's price action was driven by single-stock moves, with notable upside in a few mega-cap names helping the Nasdaq Composite avoid a fifth straight loss.
At Friday's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% at 34,577, while the S&P 500 was 0.1% higher at 4,457. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, rose 0.1% to 13,761, its first win in five sessions. All three benchmarks closed in negative territory for the week.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Be a smarter, better informed investor.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Positive end-of-week returns for several of the biggest Nasdaq stocks buoyed the tech-heavy index. Notably, Apple (AAPL) stock, which has shed about $200 billion in market value this week on news China could widen its ban of iPhones to include state-owned companies and government-backed agencies, gained 0.4%.
Amazon.com (AMZN, +0.3%) and Microsoft (MSFT, +1.3%) – two other stocks with outsized weightings in the Nasdaq – also gained ground today.
RH stock spirals after earnings
Elsewhere, RH (RH) plunged 15.6% after the high-end furniture retailer that was previously known as Restoration Hardware reported earnings. In the second quarter, RH reported higher-than-expected earnings of $3.93 per share on $800 million in revenue.
However, the company forecast third-quarter sales below analysts' estimates amid continuing challenges in the luxury housing market and broader economy. The retail stock was a former member of the Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio, though Warren Buffett and his team exited the stake in the first quarter of this year.
Market participants also kept an eye on rising oil prices, with U.S. crude futures climbing 0.7% to $87.51 per barrel, bringing their weekly gain to 2.3%. This gave a boost to energy stocks, with Marathon Petroleum (MRO, +2.3%) and Phillips 66 (PSX, +2.9%) among the day's biggest advancers.
Rising oil prices could impact inflation
Energy prices will feature prominently in next Wednesday morning's release of the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, says Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
"We reckon that gasoline prices rose roughly 10% in seasonally adjusted terms in the month, which alone will bump up the CPI by four ticks," the economist says. "We look for overall prices to rise a meaty 0.6%, lifting the annual inflation rate to 3.6% (from 3.2%)." The core reading, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, should be "much more friendly," Porter adds.
Meanwhile, there are still a few stragglers left to report earnings, including Photoshop creator Adobe (ADBE). The tech stock has been red-hot this year – building on its impressive 20-year return – on optimism over the company's artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.
Related content
-
5 Home Run Hotel Packages Every Baseball Fan Will LoveFrom Fenway to Yankee Stadium, these bundled hotel-and-baseball deals combine savings, perks and unforgettable fan experiences.
-
The Rule of Two Lives in Retirement: A Retirement RuleThe 'rule of two lives in retirement' means accounting for your partner at every decision point, because one life becomes two.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into UnitedHealth Group Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayUNH stock was a massive market beater for ages – until it wasn't.
-
Stocks Struggle to Start Nvidia Week: Stock Market TodayAnother important week for the stock market starts on a risk-off note.
-
Dow Rips 846 Points to New All-Time High: Stock Market TodayFed Chair Jerome Powell seems ready to cut interest rates in the fall but will still rely on incoming economic data about inflation and employment.
-
Tech Sells Off While Trump Stirs the Fed: Stock Market TodayWe've reached another important part of earnings season, though markets remain captivated by the president, the Fed, and interest rate policy.
-
Dow Retreats From a Record High: Stock Market TodayQuietly rising since April, Home Depot stock was conspicuously constructive Tuesday as high-profile tech names dragged equity indexes down.
-
Nasdaq Ends the Week at a New High: Stock Market TodayThe S&P 500 came within a hair of a new high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average still has yet to hit a fresh peak in 2025.
-
Stocks Swing Lower as Eli Lilly, Fortinet Spiral: Stock Market TodayThe main indexes finished well off their session highs after a disappointing batch of corporate earnings reports.
-
What Tariffs Mean for Your Sector ExposureNew, higher and changing tariffs will ripple through the economy and into share prices for many quarters to come.
