Wall Street stocks were broadly flat on Friday as the first week of second-quarter earnings season gets set to draw to a close.
As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.05% at 35,003.42, while the S&P 500 was 0.02% firmer at 4,360.91 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.03% stronger at 14,546.85.
The Dow opened 16.40 points higher on Friday after closing sharply higher in the previous session following earnings from a number of the US’ biggest banks.
With a break from the earnings onslaught, Friday’s main focus was last month’s retail sales data, which surprised to the upside, driven by increased demand for electronics, gasoline and fashion. According to the Department of Commerce, retail sales volumes grew at a 0.6% month-on-month pace to reach $621.3bn. Economists had pencilled in a drop of 0.5% versus May.
Sales of motor vehicles and parts fell by 2.0%, alongside a 3.6% fall in sales of furniture, a 1.6% decrease in those of building materials and a 1.7% retreat in those of sporting goods. All other goods categories registered increases with sales of electronics rising by 3.3%, at gasoline stations up 2.5%, fashion sales 2.6% higher and miscellaneous store retailers up 3.4%.
Elsewhere on the macro front, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index declined to 80.8 in July, short of the 86.5 expected by analysts. The current economic conditions index declined to 84.5 from 88.6, while the consumer expectations index edged lower to 78.4 from 83.5.
Lastly, US business inventories grew 0.5% month-on-month in May, bang in line with expectations, while the prior month’s 0.2% decline was revised to a 0.1% gain.
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.
