Stocks log weekly gains after heavy round of earnings, Fed's dovish shift
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday after a tepid outlook from Amazon.com Inc. partly offset a stronger-than-expected jobs report. The S&P 500 was up less than 0.1% to end near 2,707. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 63 points, or 0.3%, to finish around 25,064, based on preliminary numbers. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2% to end near 7,264. For the week, the S&P rose 1.6%, the Dow was up 1.3%, and the Nasdaq booked a gain of 1.4%. Equity markets were buoyed midweek after the Federal Reserve signaled a more patient stance towards future rate moves. Investors digested a round of better-than-expected economic data on Friday from the Institute of Supply Management's manufacturing gauge and the employment report, which underlined the U.S. economy's strength. At the same time, key equity benchmarks were weighed down by Amazon's earnings after it said revenues for the first quarter of 2019 were forecast to fall short of expectations. Shares of Amazon.com fell 5.5%.
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