U.S. stocks fell on Friday amid a slide in Amazon shares, but the S&P 500 is still on track to notch its sixth straight positive month.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 39 points from Thursday’s all-time record to 35,045.53, supported by a jump in Procter & Gamble shares.
The S&P 500 dropped 15.26 points to 4,403.89, from what had also been a fresh high, dragged down by the consumer discretionary sector.
The NASDAQ lost 83.43 points to 14,694.84.
Major averages are still on pace to wrap up a solid month, although volatility has picked up amid concerns about the economic recovery in the face of the spreading delta variant.
The NASDAQ has climbed 1%, while the Dow has added 1.4% in July, while the broad S&P 500 is up 2.2% over the same period. Utilities, health-care, real estate and technology stocks have led the S&P 500 higher for the month, while energy and financials have lagged.
Amazon sank 7.3% after it reported its first quarterly revenue miss in three years and gave weaker guidance. Pinterest fell even further, down 17%, after saying it lost monthly users during the three months ended June 30.
Procter & Gamble shares rose 2% after the consumer giant topped analysts’ estimates for quarterly earnings and revenue. However, the company warned that increasing commodity costs could hit its earnings in the upcoming year.
Shares of online brokerage Robinhood started trading on the Nasdaq at $38 per share on Thursday, but the stock eventually closed its debut session more than 8% lower $34.82 per share. Robinhood shed another 3% Friday.
Investors digested a key inflation indicator that showed better-than-feared price pressures on Friday. The core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 3.5% in June year over year. It marked a sharp acceleration in inflation but came in slightly below a Dow
Jones expectation of a 3.6% jump.
Weaker-than-expected readings on the U.S. economy further eased concerns about the Federal Reserve dialing back asset purchases.
U.S. second-quarter gross domestic product accelerated 6.5% on an annualized basis, considerably less than the 8.4% Dow Jones estimate.
Meanwhile, the latest weekly jobless claims also came in higher than expected.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday noted that while the economy has come a long way since the COVID-19 recession, it still has a ways to go before the central bank considers adjusting its easy-money policies.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys jumped, lowering yields to 1.23% from Thursday’s 1.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 22 cents to $73.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked $6.70 to $1,828.40 U.S. an ounce.