Stocks See Third Straight Losing Week

Wall Street limped to a mixed close on Friday, marking its third losing week in a row:

• The benchmark S&P 500 barely budged, slipping by less than a point to 4,369. It lost more than 2% for the week, like other US indexes, per the AP.
• The Dow edged up 25 points on Friday to 34,500.
• The Nasdaq composite slipped 26 points to 13,290.

August has been rough for the stock market, which has given back close to a third of the S&P 500's torrid gains for the year's first seven months. That's in part because a swift rise in yields has forced investors to reconsider whether stocks got too expensive, particularly after critics warned the market rose too far, too quickly. The group called the "Magnificent Seven" has been under pressure recently because technology and other high-growth stocks are seen as some of the biggest losers of higher rates. Several of them are down more than 10% from their highs earlier this year. Microsoft slipped 0.1% Friday, Meta Platforms dropped 0.8%, and Tesla sank 1.5%.

Elsewhere, Ross Stores jumped 5.1% for the largest gain in the S&P 500 after it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than Wall Street had forecast. Applied Materials also reported stronger profit than expected, and its stock rose 4.1%. Estee Lauder fell 2.5% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. Its profit forecast for its upcoming fiscal year fell short of Wall Street's estimates.

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