X The stock market closed mixed Friday after indexes bounced off session lows, leaving the general market in the same uncertain outlook it's faced for a week now.
The Nasdaq lost 0.2%. Amazon.com (AMZN) — the Nasdaq's fourth-largest-weighted stock — jumped more than 2% on the acquisition of Whole Foods Market (WFM).
The S&P 500 erased early losses all the way into the close and finished a fraction higher. After last Friday's sell-off, the market didn't do enough to recover and remains under pressure.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.1%. Wal-Mart (WMT), which could be hurt by the Amazon-Whole Foods deal, skidded nearly 5% in about six times more volume than usual. Wal-Mart closed below the 50-day moving average for the first time since Feb. 15.
Small caps performed in line with the Nasdaq as the Russell 2000 slipped 0.2%. Since it hit a new high June 9, it's fallen four of the next five days. The Dow utilities outperformed with a 0.4% increase to a record high.
Volume was sharply higher amid the simultaneous expiration of various options and futures contracts. Despite that, indexes closed mostly lower. Winning stocks led losers by nearly 6-to-5 on the NYSE. But on the Nasdaq, losers topped winners by 8-to-7.
Besides Amazon's internet retail industry group, energy, fiber optics and some health care groups were among the best performing. Finisar's (FNSR) 8% surge after strong quarterly results was the main cause of the fiber-optic industry's rise Friday.
The retail sector was broadly lower, with discount chains, drugstores and office supply retailers down 2% to 5%. The grocery stores group was only modestly lower. Whole Foods' 29% surge cushioned sharp losses in Kroger (KR), Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) and several smaller stocks in the same group.
Kroger already had tumbled 19% Thursday on an earning warning, and lost 9% more Friday. The week's 27% plunge left shares at their lowest level in more than three years.
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