Financial Markets                      01/23 09:27

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is drifting in mixed trading on 
Friday, as a zigzag week punctuated by loud threats and pullbacks heads toward 
a quieter close.

   The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading and on track to 
finish a second straight week with a modest loss. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average was down 263 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time, and the 
Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.

   Intel tugged on the market after tumbling 15.6%. The chip company reported 
better results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. But more attention 
was on its forecast for the first three months of this year, which fell short 
of Wall Street's expectations.

   Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said shortages of supplies are 
affecting the entire industry, and Intel expects available supply to hit a 
bottom early this year before improving in the spring and beyond. CEO Lip-Bu 
Tan highlighted the company's opportunities created by the 
artificial-intelligence era.

   Moves in the U.S. bond and foreign-currency markets, meanwhile, were more 
modest following sharp swings earlier in the week. Global investors showed some 
inclination to dump U.S. investments after President Donald Trump initially 
threatened 10% tariffs for European countries for opposing his having 
Greenland. Not only did prices for U.S. Treasury bonds tumble, sending their 
yields higher, the value of the U.S. dollar also slid against other currencies.

   Markets found some relief after Trump said Wednesday he had reached "the 
framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland" and called off the 
tariffs, though few details are available about it.

   Gold's price nevertheless rose again Friday and got closer to $5,000 per 
ounce in a signal that investors are still looking for something safer to own 
amid all the uncertainty.

   On Wall Street, Capital One Financial sank 4.3% after reporting a weaker 
profit for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. It also said it was buying 
Brex, which helps businesses issue corporate cards, for $5.15 billion in cash 
and stock.

   On the winning side of the market was SLB, which added 1.7% after reporting 
a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The oil field 
services provider also raised its dividend 3.5%, while CEO Olivier Le Peuch 
said revenue improved from the prior quarter across all its four geographies 
for the first time since the spring of 2024.

   CSX climbed 3.9% even though the railroad reported a weaker profit than 
analysts expected. Some analysts highlighted the company's forecast for how 
much more operating profit it expects to retain from each $1 of revenue during 
2026.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit and offered some support for 
stocks.

   Helping to contain yields was a survey that said U.S. consumers' 
expectations for inflation in the upcoming year improved to 4%. While that's 
well above the 2% inflation that the Federal Reserve targets, it's still the 
lowest such reading in a year for the survey by the University of Michigan.

   That kind of improvement can help avoid a worst-case scenario the Fed has 
been desperate to avoid, one where expectations for high inflation trigger a 
vicious cycle of behavior that only worsens inflation.

   Overall sentiment among U.S. consumers, meanwhile, was also a touch stronger 
than economists expected. That could help keep them spending and the main 
engine of the U.S. economy humming. A separate preliminary report from S&P 
Global suggested growth is continuing for U.S. business activity.

   The yield of the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.24% from 4.26% late 
Thursday

   In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in Europe after rising across much 
of Asia.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.3% after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest 
rate unchanged, as many investors expected. The central bank just raised the 
policy rate to 0.75% in December and has been slowly pulling it higher from 
below zero.

   Global markets have calmed following a surge higher for long-term government 
bond yields in Japan early in the week, sparked by worries that Japan's Prime 
Minister Sanae Takaichi might make moves that would add heavily to the 
government's already big debt.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

   ---------

   itemid:6e894c8ecd7de9e05ad245beed41bd3e