Financial Markets                      09/20 15:29

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- A record-setting week for Wall Street closed on a quieter 
note Friday, as U.S. stocks drifted around the highs they hit during a 
worldwide rally the day before.

   The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% from its record, and the Nasdaq composite fell 
0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, added 38 points, or 0.1%, to 
its all-time high.

   FedEx dragged on the market with a drop of 15.2% after its profit and 
revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts' expectations. It said 
U.S. customers sent fewer packages through priority services, while it had to 
contend with higher wages for workers and other costs. FedEx also cut its 
forecast for revenue growth for its fiscal year.

   Helping to limit the market's losses was Nike, which ran 6.8% higher after 
it named Elliott Hill as its chief executive. Hill, 60, had spent more than 
three decades at Nike in various leadership positions before retiring in 2020. 
Constellation Energy also leaped 22.3% after announcing it will restart the 
Three Mile Island nuclear plant and sell the power to Microsoft.

   Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group fell 7.8% as its biggest 
shareholder, former President Donald Trump, won the freedom to sell his shares 
if he wants.

   Trump owns more than half of the $2.7 billion company behind the Truth 
Social platform. But Trump and other insiders in the company had been unable to 
cash in because a "lock-up agreement" prevented them from selling any of their 
shares. Before the lockup expired, Trump said he was in no rush to sell.

   TMTG stock has dropped below $14 from more than $60 in March, and it's taken 
a roller-coaster ride there. Over the last six months, the stock has often 
swung by at least 5% in a day, up or down.

   Homebuilder Lennar fell 5.3% after delivering a mixed earnings report. Its 
profit for the latest quarter topped expectations. But it also said it made 
less in profit on each $100 of home sales, and it expects that margin to stay 
flat in the current quarter.

   Conditions may be set to improve for homebuilders, though. The Federal 
Reserve earlier this week cut its main interest rate for the first time in more 
than four years, with more likely to come. That could make mortgages more 
affordable for home buyers.

   The cut closed the door on a run where the Fed kept its main interest rate 
at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stamp out 
high inflation. Now that inflation has fallen from its peak two summers ago, 
Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed can focus more on keeping the job market solid 
and the economy out of a recession.

   The Fed is still under pressure because hiring has begun to slow under the 
weight of higher interest rates. Some critics say the central bank waited too 
long to cut rates and may have damaged the economy.

   Critics also say the U.S. stock market may be running too hot on the belief 
the Federal Reserve will pull off what seemed nearly impossible earlier: 
getting inflation down to 2% without creating a recession.

   Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel, is still calling for a 
sharp drop for the S&P 500 by the end of the year. He points to how much faster 
stock prices have climbed than profits at companies. When stocks have looked 
this expensive on such measures in the past, he said a recession and sharp 
downturn for stocks has followed.

   He also warned in a report that slowing hiring "is now symbolic of recession 
risk."

   No economic releases were on the calendar for Friday to show where the 
economy may be heading. Next week will have preliminary reports on U.S. 
business activity, the final revision for how quickly the economy grew during 
the spring and the latest update on spending by U.S. consumers.

   The S&P 500 ended this week at 5,702.55 after slipping 11.09 points. The Dow 
rose 38.17 to 42,063.36, and the Nasdaq fell 65.66 to 17,948.32.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked up to 3.74% 
from 3.72% late Thursday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes slumped across much of Europe after rising 
in Asia. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% after the Bank of Japan left interest 
rates steady, as was expected.

   __

   AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed

   ---------

   itemid:acfb636ed8e0e341a1e93b1567ff0358