US close: Dow Jones registers first eight-week losing streak since 1923

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday as the Dow Jones registered its first eight-week losing streak since 1923.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.03% at 31,261.90 and the S&P 500 was 0.01% firmer at 3,901.36, while the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.30% weaker at 11,354.62.

The Dow closed just 8.77 points higher on Friday, doing little to reclaim losses recorded in the previous session as softer-than-expected earnings from big-name retailers continued to weigh on sentiment.

Stocks initially got a slight boost following news that China had cut its key benchmark mortgage interest rate overnight after Covid-related shutdowns pounded the country's economy.

The People's Bank of China cut its five-year loan prime rate, its mortgage reference rate, by a bigger-than-expected 15 basis points, to 4.45%, and left the one-year rate unchanged at 3.7%. Analysts had been expecting a five basis points reduction across both tenures.

However, both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 gave up early gains to end the session little changed, despite positive movements early in the session, with the latter officially dipping into bear market territory on an intraday basis. The Nasdaq, the only major average to close lower on Friday, was already deep into bear market territory, with the index down roughly 30% from its all-time high.

In the corporate space, sportswear retailer Foot Locker posted first-quarter earnings of $133.0m ahead of the bell, beating Wall Street expectations, while revenues of $2.17bn fell short of consensus estimates.

No major data points were released on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $42.94 2.92%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $159.65 2.60%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $233.91 2.14%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $176.98 1.75%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $60.98 1.63%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $93.50 1.59%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $485.73 1.50%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $108.00 1.47%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $247.50 1.12%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $49.53 0.88%