NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks reported mixed results in the week ending Sept. 21 as investors digested a batch of economic data amid global trade tensions.
The Dow and the S&P 500 advanced 2.25 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq declined 0.29 percent.
The market fluctuated on Friday with a bright opening after a robust previous session and closed mixed with S&P 500 and the Nasdaq erasing early gains.
Investor sentiment was lifted by a robust previous session and positive overseas markets, but trade tensions between Washington and its key trading partners continued to rattle investors, experts noted.
McDonald's and Boeing stocks outperformed, with shares of the companies rising 2.80 percent and 1.30 percent, respectively, at Friday's closing. Meanwhile, major tech shares including Twitter and Facebook traded lower.
Investors braced for an S&P 500 sector reshuffling after Friday's close. Among the biggest changes, Facebook and Google's parent Alphabet will move out of the tech into the telecom services sector. The sector will be renamed as communication services starting Monday.
Thursday's session stood out during the week as the Dow hit its first record high since January and the S&P 500 posted its first all-time high since late August.
Financial sector had a big day on Wednesday, ending the day 1.76 percent higher. Bank shares got a boost as the 10-year Treasury note yield hit a record high of 3.09 percent during Wednesday's trading, the highest level since May.
Wall Street paid close attention to a slew of economic data.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) registered at 55.6 in September, up from 54.7 in August, according to a report released by the data provider on Friday.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Flash U.S. Services PMI Business Activity Index dropped to 52.9 in September from 54.8 in August, to signal the weakest expansion of service sector output since March 2017.
In the week ending Sept. 15, U.S. initial jobless claims stood at 201,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the Department of Labor said on Thursday. The 4-week moving average was 205,750, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's unrevised average.
U.S. total existing-home sales remained unchanged in August from the July rate, according to the National Association of Realtors' latest monthly report. The reading missed market forecasts.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.4 percent in August to 111.2, following a 0.7-percent increase in July.
On other economic data, U.S. building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,229,000, 5.7 percent below the revised July rate of 1,303,000, the Department of Commerce reported on Wednesday. Privately-owned housing starts in August registered 1,282,000, beating market forecasts.
