Dow Jones up 13 at 21,798
S&P 500 down 4 at 2,461
Reinsurance giants rally but still end week with heavy losses
Stocks spent most of Friday searching for direction, and things were no clearer by the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average made headway, rising 13 points to 21,798, but the broader-based S&P closed almost four points lower at 2,461.
With Hurricane Irma set to make landfall this weekend, traders were in the mood to close out positions, although not in reinsurance companies, which rallied after taking heavy losses earlier in the week on fears they would face a hefty bill relating to storm damage.
Everest Re Group Ltd (NYSE:RE) rose 5% and XL Group Ltd (NYSE:XL) advanced 5.8%.
Mid-session: Dow and S&P 500 go their separate ways
The Dow Jones and the S&P continued to go their separate ways in the lunchtime session.
The Dow Jones was up 42 at 21,827 while the S&P 500 was down a couple of points at 2,463.
With investors keeping half an eye on Hurricane Irma, which is expected to hit south Florida overnight tomorrow, volatility was relatively light.
Tintri Inc (NASDAQ:TNTR), down 27%, was a notable major mover, after the company posted its first set of figures since floating.
The flash storage company made an adjusted loss of 91 cents a share in the second quarter of its financial year, which represented an improvement on the US$1.03 loss per share a year earlier.
Sales came in a bit shy of expectations at US$34.9mln; analysts had been expecting a number around US$35.7mln.
The shares, which floated in June at US$7, fell to US$4.875.
Read Tintri becomes latest squib IPO
Open: Dow Jones opens higher while S&P 500 heads south
The Dow Jones opened higher, moving against the trend exhibited by the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite.
The Dow was up 21 points at 21,806 in the first half hour of trading, with investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) to the fore, with the former up 1.4% at US$219.03 and the latter 0.8% higher at US$89.20.
The broader-based S&P 500 was down a couple of points at 2,463 while the Nasdaq Composite was off 21 points at 6,377.
As expected, Equifax Inc (NYSE:EFX) took a bashing after it was revealed last night that the credit score provider had suffered a massive cyber-security breach.
Read US credit score giant Equifax poised for biggest daily drop in 20 years after a massive data breach.
The shares were off more than US$20 at US$122.50.