A one-day rally in financial stocks on Friday helped push US equities into positive territory for the week after the S&P 500 spent most of the period fluctuating between gains and losses against the backdrop of a slew of executive orders by US President Donald Trump.
The S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 2,297.42 on the week, compared with 2,294.69 a week earlier, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 percent to 20,071.46, dipping from 20,094 a week earlier.
Both gauges trailed the Russell 2000 Index as small-cap shares added 0.5 percent for the fourth gain in five weeks.
While healthcare stocks had the biggest five-day gain with a 2.4 percent advance, it was a 2 percent rally in financial companies that pushed the S&P 500 into positive territory late on Friday after Trump signed directives aimed at reducing regulation on banks and examining the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Equities also got a lift after US Department of Labor data showed employers added the most workers in four months, stoking enthusiasm in the economy that was tempered by hourly earnings numbers, which showed growth of 2.5 percent year-over-year, the weakest since August last year.
The US Federal Reserve will probably “interpret the labor market condition as having moderately more slack near term,” TIAA Investments chief economist Tim Hopper said in a research note on Friday. “This gives them room to forestall a rate hike in March.”
Investors continued to watch corporate earnings. With more than half of S&P 500 companies having reported, profits are beating expectations by an average of 3.3 percent, even as revenue figures fall in line with analyst projections.
Earnings are up 5.5 percent on average, with eight of 11 industry groups posting gains.
Shares of telephone companies had the worst week in three months, dropping 1.9 percent as a group. Frontier Communications Corp lost 3.4 percent and Verizon Communications Inc declined 2.1 percent.
Despite the fourth week of gains in oil this year, energy stocks lost 1.2 percent as declines in Range Resources Corp and Transocean Ltd weighed on the group.
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