US stocks go quietly into the weekend; Nasdaq closes at record

The S&P 500 Index finished down less than 0.1% to close out a strong week in which the benchmark index gained 1.6%. 

The equal weight version of the index did much worse, down 0.6% on the day and 0.5% on the week. This combination of the equal weight index down at least 0.5% and the market cap index up 1.5% or more has never happened in their more than 20-year histories.

At least there was one new record high thanks to the Nasdaq 100’s 0.4% gain. 

Concerns about Europe were front-and-center across global markets thanks to political turmoil in France. The SPDR Euro Stoxx 50 ETF fell nearly 5% on the week – another record divergence relative to benchmark US stock index ETF.

Among US sector ETFs, tech and communications services paced gains, while industrials fell more than 1%. Adobe was a standout, up 14.5% after its quarterly report suggested that generative AI is far from cannibalizing its business opportunities.