US stock indices edged lower on Friday amid stronger earnings from more big US companies.<\/p>\n
As of 12:43 PM Eastern Time, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%.<\/p>\n
As of 11:30 AM Eastern Time, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were nearly unchanged, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%.<\/p>\n
As of 10:05 AM Eastern time, the S&P 500 was 0.1% higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2%.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished at record levels, on upbeat retail<\/a>-ventures-share-price-nse-bse-s0005828″ data-vars-anchor-text=”retail”>retail sales and jobless claims data.<\/p>\n In terms of economic data on Friday, the University of Michigan’s Consumer<\/a>-b-share-price-nse-bse-e00354″ data-vars-anchor-text=”Consumer”>Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 61.8 in July from a final reading of 60.7 in June.<\/p>\n In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.43% from 4.47% late on Thursday. The 2-year Treasury yield dropped to 3.87% from 3.91%.<\/p>\n Gainers and Losers<\/p>\n Netflix <\/a>stock dropped 5.1% despitereporting a stronger quarterlyprofit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Norfolk Southern shares jumped 3% after an AP report said it\u2019s talking with Union Pacific about a merger<\/a>to create the largest railroad in North America. Union Pacific\u2019s stock fell 1%.<\/p>\n Stocks of Charles Schwab soared 3.1%, Regions Financial gained 4.5% and Comerica added 1.7% following their respective profit reports.<\/p>\n Chevron shares rose 0.5% after announcing completion of acquisition of Hess.<\/p>\n Bullion<\/p>\n Gold prices <\/a>edged higher on Friday on a weaker US dollar<\/a>-industries-share-price-nse-bse-s0003324″ data-vars-anchor-text=”dollar”>dollar and ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n Spot gold rose 0.5% to $3,353.80 per ounce, as of 0947 AM EDT (13:47 GMT). US gold futures were up 0.5% to $3,360.50.<\/p>\n Among other metals, spot platinum fell 0.7% to $1,448.03 per ounce, Palladium climbed 0.7% to $1,289.50, and silver added 0.5% to $38.31.<\/p>\n