Investing.com - The Dow closed lower for the week, despite a rally Friday that came even as the White House reportedly walked backed President Donald Trump's upbeat comments on trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49%. The S&P 500 rose 0.22%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.15%.
Wall Street went into rally mode Friday after Trump said he was hopeful the U.S. and China will reach a consensus on trade deal. The White House, however, peddled a more sombre narrative on trade in the wake of Trump's comments, telling CNBC that a deal was not coming soon.
Still, the broader averages held their gains, but that did little to avert a weekly loss following a rout in tech.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) fell 3% amid the fallout from a New York Times article detailing how the company conspired to cover up warnings that Russia had used the social media platform to disrupt the U.S. election in 2016.
Weakness in tech was exacerbated by a slump in semiconductor stocks as Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) soft earnings and light guidance, owing to excess inventories (an industry-wide problem for many chipmakers), triggered fire-selling across the industry.
Rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) fell 4%, while Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) was rewarded for its quarterly results, which came in line with consensus. Its share rose 1%.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1%.
Energy added steel to the rally on Friday as oil prices settled flat, but slumped 6% for the week on concerns about a global glut in supplies.
Retailers kept the broader market in check, however, following a rout in both Nordstrom and Williams-Sonoma.
Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) fell 14% after its earnings, including a one-time item, fell short of estimates. The retailer grew comps 2.3% in the third quarter, below estimates for a 2.4% increase.
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) was punished for delivering mixed third-quarter results as earnings beat, but revenue missed consensus estimates, sending its shares tumbling 11%.
The pair of quarterly results followed strong quarterly earnings from other retailers this week, including Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Macy’s (NYSE:M), but that did little stop the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSE:XRT) falling 4.5% for the week.
Sentiment on stocks were also lifted by easing concerns about steeper U.S. rate increases after Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida indicated that the U.S. central bank may stop at the neutral rate, rather than continue hiking beyond the neutral rate, which might be interpreted as an effective "rate cut," JPMorgan said in a note to clients.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG), Edison International (NYSE:EIX) and NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) and Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.