Stocks end Friday lower as GOP negotiators halt debt ceiling talks, S&P 500 notches best week since March: Live updates

Stocks closed lower on Friday, but posted a positive week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 109.28 points, or 0.33%, to 33,426.63. The S&P 500 traded 0.14% lower to 4,191.98. The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.24% to 12,657.90.

All three major averages capped the week with gains. The S&P 500 rose 1.65% in its biggest one-week advance since March. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.04% for the week, also its best weekly performance since March. The Dow added 0.38%.

— Sarah Min

UBS Global Wealth Management's Mark Haefele noted investors may be better off playing defense in their portfolio, given the current backdrop.

"Equity markets have remained calm, but the next few weeks could see us test the limit of how much risk they can absorb. We see better risk-reward in high-quality bonds than in broad US equity indexes, and favor gold as a portfolio hedge," Haefele wrote.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

Stocks were off their session lows shortly into the final hour of trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 82 points, or 0.25%. Earlier in the session, it was down by as much as 199.25 points, or 0.59%.

The S&P 500 traded 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.29%. The broader index previously slid as much as 0.43%. The Nasdaq was down as much as 0.51% at one point.

— Sarah Min

The S&P 500 is headed for its best week since March, but Barclays advised clients against making overly bullish bets on the market going forward.

Strategist Venu Krishna noted that a sharp divergence in the equity risk premium between the S&P 500 equal weighted index and the S&P Small Cap 600 equity risk premiums "indicates that mega-cap stocks are inflating SPX valuations, especially after the regional banking crisis."

"Mega-cap outperformance is not unusual in historical instances of heightened stress, so Big Tech multiples could see near-term support at current levels even after leading the market throughout the recent flight to safety," Krishna said. "The immense potential for AI also provides medium-term support, but it is too early to assess the full impact."

"We would caution against an overly bullish interpretation (e.g., the rest of the market is cheap) as equities are still exposed to earnings risk and we see few upside catalysts, leaving risk/reward skewed asymmetrically to the downside," the strategist added.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

The latest developments around U.S. debt ceiling talks have left stock investors in a tough spot, Interactive Broker's Jose Torres said Friday.

"Clearly, significant challenges exist for risk assets, and investors with an overly optimistic outlook may be walking on an unrealistic dream," the firm's senior economist wrote. "Debt-ceiling negotiations are a lose-lose for equity investors at this point, as a failure to strike a deal will lead to an immediate recession, while a deal will strain liquidity from markets as the US Treasury issues trillions in new bonds, which are newly born."

— Fred Imbert

Macquarie Research downgraded Disney shares to neutral from outperform, citing near-term uncertainties. 

The research firm said in a Friday note that the company's linear networks are worsening. Analyst Tim Nollen said that while Disney's streaming division losses are abating, prior guidance of its direct-to-consumer guidance becoming profitable by the 2024 fiscal year seems unlikely. 

"Current difficulties cloud long-term potential," Nollen said. "We still appreciate Disney's efforts and expect its transformation to streaming to succeed, but we see the stock as range-bound for now."

Shares declined nearly 2% as of Friday afternoon.

— Hakyung Kim

The slow and painful demise of Bed Bath & Beyond gave rivals plenty of time to tweak their strategies to win the bankrupt retailer's business. It's playing out, says Jefferies analysts, who share a number of fresh examples:

• Williams-Sonoma has unveiled a "college kitchen" offering, filled with items suitable for dorm living. Bed Bath & Beyond had long been a popular back-to-college destination.
• Sur La Table is accepting the retailer's famous 20% off coupons for a limited time.
• Etsy has launched a wedding registry, filling in a gap in this space.
• TJX Cos. has reset its HomeGoods stores at locations that were near closed Bed Bath stores to capture new shoppers.

As for all those empty stores, Jefferies said many of the landlords are reporting they are finding new tenants. Two examples: RioCan REIT said it has interest for 13 stores in Canada, while Regency Centers said grocers, off-price retailers, home decor and sporting goods retailers as well as medical providers have been interested in its 10 locations.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

After starting Friday off on a brighter note, investor sentiment dipped during early afternoon trading.

Only four S&P 500 sectors out of 11 were trading in positive territory, compared to a majority of sectors earlier. Those sectors were energy, health care, utilities and materials, which were up 1.1%, 0.6%, 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively.

On the other hand, consumer discretionary stocks were the biggest laggard, down 0.8%.

— Sarah Min

Check out some of the companies making headlines in midday trading Friday.

Occidental Petroleum — Shares of the Houston-based oil and gas producer rose nearly 2%. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought more shares on each of the last six trading days, boosting its stake to 24.4%. Buffett has ruled out the possibility to take full control of Occidental.

Disney — The media conglomerate fell nearly 2% in midday trading after Macquarie Research downgraded shares to neutral from outperform. "We still appreciate Disney's ability to successfully transform to
a DTC-first streaming business over time, but now see more interim uncertainties," Macquarie wrote.

Western Alliance, PacWest — shares of the regional banks dipped more than 4% each, giving back some of their sharp gains from this week. Despite the losses, Western Alliance and PacWest are still up more than 20%.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Catalent was the top performer in the S&P 500, rising 14.4% during midday trading.

CEO Alessandro Maselli shared a business update, saying during a call that the company thinks it "can sufficiently service [customers'] demand." The company has been dealing with problems at various production sites this year.

— Sarah Min, Fred Imbert

A retracement in the Nasdaq Composite is becoming an increasingly likely outcome, according to BTIG's Jonathan Krinsky.

"We feel pretty confident that the Nasdaq is in the last inning or two of this move, and likely to retrace much of the recent gains," the chief market technician said in a Friday note to clients. "The big question now is, can we see rotation into the laggards, or is everything going to fall together, which has been our view."

Krinsky called the recent action in the tech-heavy index a "blow-off or panic bid." The Nasdaq's gained 3% so far this week and 21% year to date.

— Samantha Subin

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that interest rates may not have to rise as much as previously thought in part due to stresses seen in the banking sector.

"The financial stability tools helped to calm conditions in the banking sector. Developments there, on the other hand, are contributing to tighter credit conditions and are likely to weigh on economic growth, hiring and inflation," he said as part of a panel on monetary policy.

"So as a result, our policy rate may not need to rise as much as it would have otherwise to achieve our goals," he added. "Of course, the extent of that is highly uncertain."

— Jeff Cox

Stocks turned lower during midday trading after GOP negotiators halted debt ceiling negotiations.

Around 11:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 159 points, or 0.48%. The S&P 500 traded 0.38% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.47%.

Earlier in the session, the Dow was higher by 116.99 points, or 0.35%. The S&P 500 was up by 0.35%, and the Nasdaq had climbed 0.34%.

— Sarah Min

Deere boosted its profit forecast for the year sending shares higher in trading on Friday morning, but the momentum ended after CFO Josh Jepsen revealed high inventory levels during a conference call. That sparked concerns that demand from farmers is slowing. The big price increases that helped Deere offset inflationary pressures in the past are also expected to moderate in the third and fourth quarters. Shares were recently down 1.6%.

Deere said it's not seeing weaker demand, and defended the higher inventory levels, saying it's a benefit for its dealers as it provides them with more time to deliver machines and to facilitate used trade-ins.

—Seema Mody, Christina Cheddar Berk

Artificial intelligence may offer the next big tailwind for pandemic-darling Zoom Video Communications, according to Baird.

"If online can stabilize, solid enterprise results, a strong balance sheet and growing AI investments could start to improve the investor narrative," wrote analyst William Power in a Friday note to clients.

Power views the company as uniquely positioned to harness AI given its strong cash flows and "engineering DNA."

Overall, he anticipates in-line results, or a slight beat, when the company reports next week. Online risks may linger longer term, although strengths within Zoom's phone business should benefit enterprise trends.

— Samantha Subin

On average, the 20 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 rallied 2% in the trading sessions directly following their most recent earnings reports, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group.

Nvidia