U.S. Stocks Seeing Modest Weakness Amid Profit Taking, Disappointing Data

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks have moved modestly lower over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages have all moved to the downside, although selling pressure has remained relatively subdued.

Currently, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq is down 83.25 points or 0.3 percent at 26,719.78, the S&P 500 is down 8.23 points or 0.1 percent at 7,790.76 and the Dow is down 66.78 points or 0.1 percent at 53,773.21.

The modest pullback on Wall Street may partly reflect profit taking following the upward move seen over the two previous sessions, which lifted the S&P 500 to a record intraday high above 7,800 during Thursday's session.

The broad market index also ended yesterday's trading at a record closing high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq reached its highest closing level in over two months.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from the University of Michigan showing a significant deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of August.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index tumbled to 51.0 in August after surging to 55.2 in July, while economists had expected the index to dip to 54.2.

Earlier in the day, a report released by the Commerce Department showed an unexpected decline in U.S. retail sales in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said retail sales fell by 0.6 percent in July after rising by 0.2 percent in June. Economists had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.1 percent.

The unexpected decrease in retail sales marked the first drop since retail sales dipped by 0.2 percent in October 2025.

While the data has further eased concerns about the potential for an increase in interest rates, traders may be becoming increasingly worried about the outlook for the economy amid persistently high crude oil prices.

Sector News

Despite the modest pullback by the broader markets, oil service stocks are seeing substantial strength, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.6 percent to its best intraday level well over two months.

The rally by oil service stocks comes amid an increase by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures climbing by 0.4 percent.

Gold stocks are also moving sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, as reflected by the 2.6 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

Significant strength is also visible among computer hardware stocks, while pharmaceutical stocks have shown a notable move to the downside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region once again ended mixed during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have come under pressure over the course of the session after seeing early strength. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.1 basis points at 4.672 percent.