US close: Gains in Apple help keep S&P 500 in the black for the week

US stocks fell on Friday, with energy and financial shares particularly weak, as oil prices slumped and traders looked ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve policy decision.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.49% or 88.68 points to 18,123.80 points, the S&P 500 declined 0.38% or 8.10 points to 2,139.16 points and the Nasdaq slid 0.10% or 5.12 points to 5,244.57 points.

An 11% rally in shares of tech heavyweight Apple, after it bounced off its 50-day moving average, helped the S&P 500 to close 0.5% higher for the week.

At the same time oil, prices were under pressure on Friday on news of rising Iranian exports and returning supplies from Libya and Nigeria following interruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 68 cents to $43.03 per barrel on NYMEX.

Meanwhile, US inflation rose more than expected in August as rising rents and health care costs offset a fall in gasoline prices.

The Labor Department said the consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.2% month-on-month in August after being unchanged in July, beating forecasts for 0.1% growth. On an annualised basis, CPI rose 1.1% in August, up from 0.8% in July and more than the 1.0% expected.

Core inflation, which strips out energy and food prices, rose 0.3% month-on-month and 2.3% year-on-year last month following a 0.1% monthly increase and a 2.2% yearly gain in July. Economists had expected a month-on-month rise in core CPI of 0.2% and no change to the annualised rate.

“Growth in consumer prices for August was solid if unspectacular, and today’s data is unlikely to persuade Fed Chair Janet Yellen to pull the trigger on an interest rate hike just yet,” said Dennis de Jong, managing director of UFX.com.

“Analysts had speculated that next week’s Fed meeting could bring with it a rate increase, but a mixed bag of recent financial data could instead see Yellen and Co. err on the side of caution.”

The Fed meets on 20-21 September to decide on interest rates.

Elsewhere, a report showed US consumer sentiment remained unchanged in September. The University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index stayed at 89.5, missing forecasts for a reading of 90.5.

“Overall, the recent weakness of retail sales suggests that third-quarter real consumption growth will be between 2.5% and 3% annualised, which is a little weaker than we previously thought,” said Andrew Hunter, US economist at Capital Economics.

“But with consumer confidence holding steady at a high level and labour market conditions continuing to gradually improve, this is unlikely to be the start of a sustained slowdown.”

On the company front, Oracle Corp. slumped after the enterprise software company late Thursday reported first quarter profit and revenue and fell short of estimates.

The US-listed shares of Deutsche Bank fell after the US Justice Department asked the German bank to pay $14bn to settle an investigation into mortgage-backed securities.

Novavax Inc. shares tumbled after the vaccine company late Thursday said one of its lung infection vaccines missed targets in its late-stage clinical trial.

Technology giant Apple was a little lower following strong gains in the previous session as its new iPhone 7 went on sale.

From a sector standpoint, the worst performance was seen in the following industrial groups: Industrial supplies (-2.76%), Gold (-2.08%) and Mining (-1.78%), while non-ferrous metals and healthcare providers topped the leaderboard, rising by 1.64% and 1.11%, respectively.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was unchanged by the closing bell at 1.69%.

S&P 500 - Risers
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $54.94 +3.12%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $37.67 +3.04%
CIGNA Corp. (CI) $131.99 +2.60%
Westrock Company (WRK) $47.72 +2.56%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $99.48 +2.20%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $138.47 +2.11%
NiSource Inc. (NI) $24.12 +1.99%
International Paper Co. (IP) $49.19 +1.95%
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) $41.87 +1.82%
Centerpoint Energy Inc. (CNP) $23.05 +1.77%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $37.38 -5.05%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $38.92 -4.75%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $218.23 -4.26%
Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $17.32 -3.67%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $107.83 -3.64%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $24.30 -2.96%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $13.68 -2.84%
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) $46.26 -2.79%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $100.10 -2.54%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $35.49 -2.53%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $37.67 +3.04%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $138.47 +2.11%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $72.87 +0.65%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $57.25 +0.10%
Visa Inc. (V) $82.07 +0.07%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $92.56 +0.06%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $82.05 +0.02%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $100.10 -2.54%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $97.84 -1.67%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $30.84 -1.50%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $166.00 -1.24%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $84.03 -1.23%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $65.82 -1.23%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $153.84 -1.17%
3M Co. (MMM) $175.06 -0.87%
Boeing Co. (BA) $126.70 -0.84%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $115.28 -0.74%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $54.94 +3.12%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $37.67 +3.04%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $205.40 +2.48%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $82.15 +2.23%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $99.48 +2.20%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $96.86 +1.55%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $408.63 +1.46%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $25.21 +1.37%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $131.46 +1.36%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $778.52 +1.15%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
American Airlines Group (AAL) $35.49 -2.53%
Liberty Interactive Corporation QVC Group (QVCA) $18.52 -2.37%
Nxp Semiconductors Nv (NXPI) $83.75 -2.09%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.99 -1.96%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $40.07 -1.81%
CA Inc. (CA) $31.95 -1.60%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $30.84 -1.50%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $53.32 -1.44%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. - Ordinary Shares (NCLH) $35.75 -1.35%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $46.55 -1.34%