U.S. stocks ended Friday little changed as gains in defensive sectors and energy offset weakness in megacap growth stocks, while investors looked toward next week's speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The Dow gained fractionally, the S&P 500 finished roughly flat, and the Nasdaq fell two tenths of a percent.
U.S. Bank Wealth Management Head of Public Markets Group Lisa Erickson says she sees a recalibration going on in the market.
“Essentially, you've had a period year to date where investors have generally been on the positive sentiment side, really reacting to the fact that inflation is coming down, that for the most part, economic data has been better than expected and with hopes that the Fed is going to at least pause, if not pivot somewhere here in the next few months. But really, as I think reality has begun to really impact investors more to a greater degree, they have priced those expectations down to some degree. Just recognizing that we still have some path left in the progress to get to a 2% inflation target and the Fed has not pivoted yet.”
Powell addresses the annual Jackson Hole economic symposium Friday August 25th.
Stock movers included Estee Lauder which dropped three percent after cutting its annual sales and profit forecast in part due to weaker demand in Asia.
And shares of Coinbase Global slid three percent as a two-month low in the price of bitcoin hit the cryptocurrency exchange.
