The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% but remains near its all-time high set Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 163 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.
Wall Street has run to records in large part because profits are booming for big U.S. companies. Those in the S&P 500 index are on track to deliver growth of roughly 50% for earnings per share in the spring from a year earlier, according to FactSet. That’s much better than analysts expected and would be the best since five years ago, when the economy was erupting out of the chasm created by the COVID pandemic.
Nearly all the companies in the S&P 500 have already turned in their profit reports for the spring. Still to come are big retailers, including reports this upcoming week from Home Depot, Target and Walmart.
