By Corrie Driebusch
U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Friday, capping off a week of
low trading volumes and no market-moving catalysts.
The week was slow, with the fewest shares changing hands on
Friday since December 30. On Friday 4.89 billion shares changed
hands. The average so far this year is 6.58 billion. The stock
market will be closed Monday for Memorial Day.
"Volumes have been anemic," said Neil Massa, senior equity
trader at John Hancock Asset Management. "But the trend seems to be
higher. Even on days with pullbacks it seems to be healthy
consolidation."
Stocks spent most of Friday in the red, though they pared some
losses after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen reiterated the
central bank's intention to raise short-term interest rates this
year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.72 points, or 0.3%, to
18232.02. The S&P 500 declined 4.76, or 0.2%, to 2126.06 and
the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.43 points, or 0.03%, to 5089.36.
For the week, the Dow slipped 0.2%, while the S&P 500 added
0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%. Both the Dow and the
S&P 500 hit fresh record highs earlier in the week.
As first-quarter earnings season draws to a close, investor
focus is largely back on the timing of any interest-rate increase
by the Federal Reserve, traders said.
Many investors expect the Fed to increase rates in September,
but there is little consensus as to whether slightly higher
borrowing costs will derail a bull run that is in its seventh year.
In her remarks Friday, Ms. Yellen also emphasized the economic
headwinds such as slow wage growth, low inflation and disappointing
growth, discouraging the view that the Fed would embark on a
full-fledged tightening cycle.
Ms. Yellen's remarks Friday didn't provide new clarity for
investors.
"She didn't say much that's new," said Paul Christopher, head of
International Strategy, Wells Fargo Investment Institute. The tone,
he said, suggested she continues to believe rate hikes this year
are appropriate and that the decision will be data dependent, not
new revelations.
"The speech leaves the markets still churning, looking for an
event or a time or magnitude for the Fed to move," he said.
Earlier Friday the Labor Department released a
stronger-than-expected reading on inflation in April.
The consumer-price index rose 0.1% in April from a month
earlier, the Labor Department said Friday. Excluding the food and
energy categories, so-called core prices gained 0.3%, the largest
increase since January 2013. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street
Journal had expected overall prices to increase 0.1% and core
prices to rise 0.2%.
Federal Reserve officials are watching for signs that inflation
is picking up as they debate when to raise short-term rates for the
first time since June 2006.
In Europe, Germany's DAX slipped 0.4%, while France's CAC 40
edged down 0.1%.
In commodity markets, gold futures shed 0.01% to $1204.30 an
ounce. Crude-oil futures lost 1.6% to $59.72 a barrel. The yield on
the 10-year Treasury note was at 2.211%, compared with 2.186% on
Thursday. Yields fall as prices rise.
In corporate news, Deere & Co.'s shares rose 4.4% after the
farm-equipment producer reported its profit dropped in the latest
quarter though results were still better than feared.
Campbell Soup Co. reported its profit easily topped expectations
in the latest quarter as the company began implementing
cost-cutting plans. Shares rose 2.1%.
Aéropostale Inc. shares tumbled 15% after the teen retailer
projected a wider-than-expected loss for the July quarter.
Write to Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com