Wall St Slips On Mixed Earnings, Fed Rate Uncertainty

Wall Street's main indexes fell on Friday as investors digested a mixed bag of earnings reports, while uncertainty around the outlook for U.S. interest rates and the economy kept investors on edge.

A survey showed U.S. business activity accelerated to an 11-month high in April, at odds with growing signs that the economy was in danger of slipping into a recession as higher interest rates cool demand, further clouding the outlook for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

U.S. Treasury yields rose following the survey, weighing on major technology and growth stocks such as Apple Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, which fell around 1% each.

Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble Co gained 3.8% after the consumer company raised its full-year sales forecast on higher pricing, helping consumer staples stocks gain 0.8%.

HCA Healthcare Inc jumped 5.7% after the hospital operator lifted results forecast for 2023, lifting peers Tenet Healthcare Corp, Community Health Systems, Universal Health Services Inc between 3.2% and 12%.

Healthcare was among the top sector gainers, up 0.7%.

"Investors are okay with earnings so far because the lack of bad news is good news," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments. "The market is waiting to see if we can get some bullish earnings over the next few weeks from some of the big cap tech stocks."

A slate of Fed speakers this week voiced support for another 25-basis-point rate hike by the U.S. central bank when it meets next week. Traders have priced in an 82% chance of such a move, with many expecting them to hold before cutting rates by the end of 2023.

Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook is set to take the stage on Friday before the central bank's policymakers enter a blackout period until the next policy meeting.

U.S. stocks indexes have been rangebound this week with investors seeking clues on how far the Fed could hike interest rates, while earnings have signaled resilience in big banks though most regional lenders reported deposit outflows in the wake of a banking crisis last month.

At 9:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.19 points, or 0.01%, at 33,788.81, the S&P 500 was down 6.19 points, or 0.15%, at 4,123.60, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 46.79 points, or 0.39%, at 12,012.77.

Tesla Inc slipped 0.7, reversing its premarket gains after raising the U.S. prices for its Model S and X premium electric vehicles.

U.S.-listed shares of Chilean lithium miner SQM tumbled 9.3% after Chile's president, Gabriel Boric, said he would nationalize the country's lithium industry, transferring control of its vast operations from industry giants to a separate state-owned company.

U.S. lithium miner Albemarle Corp dropped 3.6%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.42-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.30-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 27 new highs and 78 new lows.