NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging near a record as they head for the close of a second straight winning week. The S&P 500 was flat in early trading Friday, a day after setting an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 66 points, or 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite was little changed. Helping to keep the stock market calm was a relatively steady bond market, which has been driving much of the action on Wall Street lately. A mostly encouraging start to the earnings reporting season for big companies has also helped prop up the stock market.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street pointed slightly lower in early trading Friday but remains on track to close the week with solid gains with major corporations turning in largely healthy earnings reports.
Futures for the S&P 500 ticked down 0.2% after the index hit another record high Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower before the opening bell.
American Express shares slid 2.3% even though the credit card company beat Wall Street's profit forecasts on record revenue and raised its dividend. Billings growth accelerating to 8% in the fourth quarter after surprisingly strong holiday spending from card holders, which tend to have higher incomes.
Telecom giant Verizon also nudged passed fourth-quarter sales and profit projections, but its shares were stagnant before markets opened.
Boeing shares dipped a little more than 1% in premarket after the airplane manufacturer said it would post a much wider loss than Wall Street expected. Boeing said it incurred nearly $3 billion worth of charges in the fourth quarter due to a lengthy labor stoppage, job cuts and problems with a number of government programs.
In an earnings pre-announcement late Thursday, the troubled aerospace giant said that it will report a loss of $5.46 per share next week when it issues its full financial results. Wall Street had forecast a loss of $1.80 per share.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7%, Germany’s DAX added 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost less than 0.1% to 39,931.98 after the central bank raised its benchmark rate to about 0.5% from 0.25%, as widely expected. It is the highest level for the rate since 2008, as the Bank of Japan shifts out of a long spell of extreme low interest rates meant to spur more borrowing and spending.
A stronger yen can eat into profits when converted from foreign currencies. Shares in export manufacturers fell as the U.S. dollar dropped against the Japanese yen, trading at 156.42 yen, up from 156.06 yen. Toyota Motor Corp.'s shares fell 1.5%, Nissan Motor Corp. lost 2.5% and Honda Motor Co. was down 0.8%.
Just before the BOJ's decision, statistics from the government showed the core inflation rate increased to 3% year-on-year in December, reaching the highest level in 16 months and above the central bank’s 2% target.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.9% to 20,066.19 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.7% to 3,252.63. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.9% to 2,536.80. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 8,408.90.
In the cryptocurrency market, where prices have surged on hopes President Donald Trump will make Washington friendlier to the industry, bitcoin was trading at $105,488, according to CoinDesk. It had set a record above $109,000 on Monday.
U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 43 cents to $75.05 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 48 cents at $78.77 per barrel.
The euro rose to $1.0479 from $1.0416.
Zimo Zhong And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
