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U.S. stocks close mixed amid economic data, earnings

Xinhua, May 12, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks closed mixed Friday as investors meditated on a batch of economic reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 22.81 points, or 0.11 percent, to 20,896.61. The S&P 500 erased 3.54 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,390.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 5.27 points, or 0.09 percent, to 6,121.23.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers increased 0.2 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department said Friday. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.2 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The index for all items less food and energy (core CPI) increased 0.1 percent in April and 1.9 percent over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for April 2017, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, came in at 474.9 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.4 percent from the previous month, and 4.5 percent above April 2016.

Comments from Federal Reserve officials were also in focus. Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said Friday that the Fed will soon need to start thinking about trimming its 4.5 trillion dollar balance sheet, and could adopt monthly trimming towards an end point that would likely remain above 800 billion dollars.

In corporate news, the week has been tough for retailers as companies reported quarterly earnings that missed estimates.

Shares of J.C. Penney tumbled 13.99 percent at 4.55 dollars for the day after the retailer reported mixed quarterly results.

On Thursday, Macy's reported earnings of 23 cents per diluted share, compared with 37 cents per diluted share in the first quarter last year. Shares dropped 17.01 percent in the previous session and dropped 3.04 percent to 23.61 dollars Friday.

For the week, the blue-chip Dow lost 0.5 percent and the broader S&P 500 erased 0.3 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 0.3 percent. Endit