Stock market live Friday: Stocks close little changed, utilities record, Tesla swings

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Stocks finished Friday's session little changed, but did post weekly gains across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25.57 points, or 0.09%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.18% and 0.2%, respectively. For the week the Dow rose 1%, the S&P gained 1.58% and the NASDAQ rose 2.2%. -Stevens

In addition to the stocks noted below (see 1:56 pm), several other stocks rose to new intraday highs, including:

• T-Mobile
• Mondelez

The major averages pared some of their losses after CNBC's Kayla Tausche reported that as part of a forthcoming package of proposed tax cuts, the White House is considering ways to incentivize U.S. households to invest in the stock market. The report is according to four senior administration officials familiar with the discussions. The proposal, one of many new tax cuts under consideration, would see a portion of household income treated as tax-free for the purposes of investing outside a traditional 401(k). - Tausche, Stevens

More than 1,400 stocks listed at the New York Stock Exchange were trading lower on Friday, outpacing the number of rising NYSE stocks by just over 100. The major stock averages were down slightly on Friday, but are still headed for solid weekly gains. —Imbert

Shares of Expedia are trading more than 10% higher on the back of stronger-than-forecast earnings. If that gain holds, it will be the stock's best daily performance since July 31, 2015, when it surged nearly 13%. —Imbert

Investors poured money into bond funds at a record pace last week. If it keeps up, inflows this year will again top $1 trillion, according to Bank of America Global Research. The trend has come as central banks have poured money into the markets and kept interest rates low, while baby boomers continue to use bonds as a portfolio diversification tool. "We're seeing a rising tide lift all boats right now," said Bill Merz, fixed income strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. – Cox

The broader market struggled slightly in afternoon trading, but shares of Nvidia, PayPal and Visa were among the 48 S&P 500 components to hit record highs. Nvidia jumped 7.3% while PayPal and Visa were both up by more than 1%. Here are some of the other S&P 500 companies to reach all-time highs. —Imbert, Hayes

• Lowe's
• Hormel
• Coca-Cola
• MasterCard
• Boston Properties
• Pinnacle West Capital
• WEC Energy
• Xcel Energy
• AvalonBay Communities
• Intuit

Stocks fell to session lows with the Dow down more than 100 points, dragged lower by IBM and Caterpillar, which were down 2.4% and 1.8%, respectively. A number of tech names are also in the red today, including Amazon and Apple. - Stevens

Shares of Tesla were down about 0.3% on moderate trading volume midday, with the stock swinging both positive and negative in a range between about $785 a share and $813 a share. Evercore ISI analyst Chris McNally noted Tesla's stock "'run-over' the shorts (and us)" but stuck by his underweight rating on Elon Musk's automaker. Wall Street's consensus view continues to lag far behind the stock's climb this year, with the average price target about 40% below Tesla's current level. —Sheetz

Coffee futures are up nearly 10% this week, putting the commodity on track for its first positive week of the year, and its best week since May. Weather and crop concerns in Brazil and Uganda are fueling the gains, although for the year coffee is still down 15% due to a fall in demand in China as the coronavirus outbreak continues. – Francolla, Stevens

The major stock averages were trading around the flatline at midday ET, but were on pace to notch back-to-back weekly gains. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are up at least 1% week to date while the Nasdaq has risen around 2%. The weekly gains come as investors digested strong corporate earnings while grappling with the uncertainty around the coronavirus. —Imbert

Asian stocks have regained most of their losses from the coronavirus scare, but Goldman's Timothy Moe thinks investors may be too optimistic about further gains in those names. He cited three reasons why investors should temper expectations: high valuations relative to other outbreaks, a "less supportive" macro environment for a "strong market rally" and declining earnings estimates for 2020. "To the extent that investors are looking at equity market performance after previous virus outbreak episodes as a template for current potential performance, the current macro environment does not appear as supportive for equities," Moe said in a note to clients. —Imbert, Bloom

The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund notched an all-time high on Friday morning and is on track to close above $70 per share for the first time, on the heels of the S&P 500 utilities sector's all-time high closing high on Thursday. The new records continue a run of outperformance for utilities that has lasted for over a year, with that sector and tech stocks being the biggest winners in the market. Despite not having the growth profile of tech stocks, utilities have been attractive to investors due to low interest rates and low energy prices. — Pound

Fitch Ratings cut the credit rating of Kraft Heinz to below investment grade on Friday, a blow for investors such as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Only one more rating agency needs to downgrade Kraft Heinz bonds to "junk" before its credit qualifies as a "fallen angel," when an issuer loses investment-grade status. Berkshire Hathaway has 325 million shares of Kraft Heinz, or 27% of shares outstanding. The stock fell 3.5% following the Fitch downgrade. "The downgrade reflects Fitch's view that Kraft's leverage will remain elevated above 4x for a prolonged period due to ongoing EBITDA challenges and limited near term debt reduction potential," the rating agency said in a release. "Fitch estimates the company may need to divest up to 20% of its projected 2020 EBITDA to support debt reduction necessary to reduce leverage to below 4.0x versus 2019 leverage of 4.8x." —Franck

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The University of Michigan's February reading on U.S. consumer sentiment topped economist expectations as consumers shrugged off worries about the coronavirus. The index came in at 100.9, beating a Dow Jones estimate of 99.5. Richard Curtin, chief economist of the Surveys of Consumers, said only 7% of survey respondents mentioned the coronavirus "when asked to explain their economic expectations in early February." —Imbert

Semiconductor ETFs SMH and SOXX rose to record all-time intraday highs on Friday, putting them on track for their best week since June. Nvidia is fueling the games, with that stock up more than 6% following earnings. —Francolla, Stevens

Stocks opened little changed on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around the breakeven line, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2%, boosted by earnings from Nvidia and Expedia, among others. The NASDAQ Composite was the top-performer, gaining 0.3%. For the week, the major averages were up at least 1% and were headed for back-to-back weekly increases. The weekly increases come even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. —Stevens

• Bernstein increased its price target on Beyond Meat to $117 from $106
• Deutsche Bank downgraded BlackRock to hold from buy
• Barclays downgraded Yelp to underweight from equal weight
• Evercore ISI raised its price target on Tesla to $550 from $250
• Benchmark upgraded Expedia to buy from hold
• Wells Fargo raised its price target on Home Depot to $265 from $240

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here. —Bloom

The China Security Regulatory Commission loosened its refinancing rule to help listed companies resume production and combat the coronavirus outbreak, according to Reuters. The regulator encouraged listed companies to introduce strategic shareholders and said the lighter rules would make it easier to raise additional funding, according to the report. —Pound

The surprise dip to zero in a core number inside the retail sales report surprised traders and could result in downgrades to first quarter GDP. The control group number feeds into GDP calculations, and it was expected to show a 0.3% gain. It includes retail sales excluding autos, gasoline, building materials and food services. To make matters worse, the December control number was revised lower to 0.2% from a gain of 0.5%. The headline retail sales for January gained 0.3%, as expected. Treasury yields moved lower, with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting 1.57% after the report. —Domm

Pinterest slid more than 3% after Facebook released a new app that could directly compete with Pinterest, which was first reported by The Information. Called Hobbi, the app has so far been rolled out in Colombia, Belgium, Spain and the Ukraine. In a statement to CNBC, a spokesperson for Pinterest said the company remains "focused on building a visual discovery engine," and that the new app "appears to be a photo saving app that lacks the discoverability, search, and recommendations of Pinterest." —Stevens

Shares of Roku jumped more than 8% during premarket trading on Friday following fourth-quarter results which beat analyst expectations. The company, which makes TVs and other devices to stream various services, reported a loss of 13 cents for the quarter, and $411 million in revenue. Analysts had been expecting a loss of 14 cents and $392 million in revenue, according to estimates from Refinitiv. Roku said that monetized video ad impressions more than doubled over the year, and that streaming hours reached 40.3 billion, which was a 16.3 billion hours year-over-year increase. Shares have gained 172% over the last year. —Stevens

Retail sales figures may have had something to do with the futures pullback. While the January top line figure came in as expected for January at a 0.3% increase, December's number was revised lower. The report also showed the biggest drop in clothing store sales since 2009. —Melloy

Stock futures were pulling back ahead of the open. Dow futures are now negative by a point. —Melloy

Shares of Nvidia rose more than 6% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that handily topped analysts' expectations. Additionally, Nvidia's first-quarter revenue forecast of $3 billion was higher than Wall Street anticipated. —Sheetz

Shares of travel booking site Expedia soared more than 11% during Friday's premarket trading on the back of strong fourth-quarter results. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.24, which was 5 cents above what the Street was looking for, according to estimates from FactSet. The company reported $2.75 billion in revenue, which was slightly short of the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Expedia did not give full-year guidance due to uncertainties surrounding the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but said that it's targeting between $300 million and $500 million in cost savings across the business. —Stevens

Tesla's stock fell about 2% in premarket after the company priced its secondary common stock offering at $767 a share. Tesla will sell 2.65 million shares at that price, just a 4.6% discount to the stock's close on Thursday. Tesla said it plans to use the proceeds "to further strengthen its balance sheet, as well as for general corporate purposes." The stock jumped nearly 5% Thursday on news of the offering. The stock traded higher briefly in the premarket on Friday before turning lower. —Sheetz

Stronger-than-expected earnings from companies such as Nvidia, Expedia, Roku and Newell Brands gave U.S. stock futures a lift as Wall Street headed for another solid week of gains. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 27 points at the open while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also indicated gains. For the week, the major averages were up at least 1% and were headed for back-to-back weekly increases. The weekly increases come even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. —Imbert

— With reporting by John Melloy, Patti Domm, Jesse Pound and Michael Bloom.