Wall Street Ends Flat, indexes Post Best Week Of 2016

Wall Street ended little changed on Friday, as Applied Materials helped lift the tech sector and offset a renewed drop in oil prices, with major indexes capping their best week of the year. The Nasdaq rose, helped by a 7 percent jump in Applied Materials shares after the chip equipment provider gave a strong profit and revenue forecast for the current quarter. 

The S&P 500 remains down 6.2 percent this year, however, hurt by oil's prolonged slide and fears of China-led slowdown in the global economy. The performance of equities has been tightly linked with that of oil. The commodity's price fell 4 percent on Friday as record high US crude stockpiles heightened supply concerns, and the S&P energy sector .SPNY ended down 0.4 percent. Nordstrom shares dropped 6.7 percent after the department store operator's quarterly profit missed expectations. On Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores' tepid sales outlook had weighed on stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.44 points, or 0.13 percent, to 16,391.99. The S&P 500 lost 0.05 points, ending roughly flat, at 1,917.78. The Nasdaq Composite added 16.89 points, or 0.38 percent, to 4,504.43. Investors also digested data that showed rising rents and healthcare costs lifted underlying U.S. inflation in January, a sign of a pick-up in price pressures that could allow the Federal Reserve to gradually raise rates this year. Recent economic data related to industrial production and the labor market have encouraged investors about the strength of the U.S. economy.

Trinity Industries slumped 22.2 percent to $16.43 after the railcar maker's forecast missed expectations. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,549 to 1,492, for a 1.04-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,540 issues rose and 1,238 fell for a 1.24-to-1 ratio favoring advancers. The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 21 new highs and 54 new lows. About 7.6 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the roughly 9.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Get real time advice for Intraday Trading Tips , Share Market Live  , Intraday Equity Tips , Stock Trading tips , Free Intraday Tips , Best Accurate Stock Tips , NSE Stock market Tips ,  and all Maket Updates .