Stocks end 1Q with solid gains


Associated Press

Wall Street closed out a solid quarter Friday with a day of listless trading that ended on a soft note.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index notched its best three-month stretch since the fourth quarter of 2015. The Nasdaq composite turned in its best quarter since the end of 2013.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down slightly with financials companies posting the biggest decline. Real- estate companies led the gainers.

Trading was largely subdued, suggesting portfolio managers looking to bolster their end-of-quarter performance had made their moves earlier in the week, said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial.

“The market has performed very well,” she said.

Bond prices edged higher. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.39 percent from 2.42 percent late Thursday.

The major stock indexes got off to a downbeat start Friday and spent much of the day wavering between small gains and losses as investors weighed several corporate deals and new economic data on consumer spending and inflation.

The latest economic data followed positive reports on consumer confidence, housing and economic growth earlier this week, which have added to the market’s expectation for stronger first-quarter corporate earnings.

“The market is moving ahead into the second quarter with valuations that are high, but the expectations are that the first-quarter earnings season will confirm the valuations,” Krosby said.

All told, the S&P 500 index ended the first three months of this year with a gain of 5.5 percent, the Nasdaq posted a gain of 9.8 percent and the Dow climbed of 4.6 percent.

The Russell 2000 ended the quarter with a gain of 2.1 percent, its fourth quarter of growth in a row.

Investors bid up shares in companies with better-than-expected earnings Friday.

Auto dealership companies were among the decliners Friday. AutoNation fell $1.20, or 2.8 percent, to $42.29. CarMax slid 84 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $59.22.

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