Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on August 15, 2025.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
The S&P 500 slipped on Friday after hitting a record high, as investors took some gains off the table after a strong week.
The broad market index settled down 0.29% at 6,449.80. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.40% to end the day at 21,622.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed, rising 34.86 points, or 0.08%, to close at 44,946.12, thanks to a 12% jump in UnitedHealth. However, it was well off its all-time high reached earlier in the day.
A decline in chip stocks and weak consumer sentiment data hurt the market Friday. Applied Materials fell 14% to lead the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) down by 2%. Nvidia lost nearly 1%.
Meanwhile, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 58.6 in August from 61.7 last month due to worries over inflation.
The major averages remained on solid footing for the week, however. The Dow outperformed, up 1.74%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq respectively gained 0.94% and 0.81% week to date, thanks to new consumer inflation data that raised hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut next month.
“The AI boom and the required Fed rate cuts are supporting the market, so we don’t think we’ll have a tradable pullback in the S&P, despite the horrible seasonality of August and September,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO and CIO at Infrastructure Capital Advisors. “We’re actually kind of grinding higher still.”
July’s retail sales data, released on Friday morning, also painted a still-healthy picture for the U.S. consumer. Retail sales rose 0.5% last month, meeting expectations from the Dow Jones consensus. Retail sales excluding automobiles gained 0.3%, also matching estimates.