NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2020) Stocks on Wall Street closed down on pre-weekend profit-taking but not before the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 29,000 for the first time ever despite a slowdown in US hirings in December.
The Dow, the New York Stock Exchange's broadest equities barometer, closed down 0.5% at 28,824 after hitting an all-time at 29,009 earlier on Friday. It rose 23 percent for its best performance in two years, and remains up about 1 percent for 2020.
The Dow and other major US stock indexes opened higher on Friday despite the Labor Department reporting that employment grew by 145,000 jobs last month versus analysts' expectations for 164,000. Optimism in technology and healthcare stocks added to the market's early rally.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 0.3 percent at 9,179. It hit a record high of 9,235 earlier. The technology sector was the darling of Wall Street investors last year, lifting the Nasdaq by 36% for the index's best performance in six years. Despite Friday's profit-taking, the index remained up 2.3 percent for 2020.
Wall Street's top barometer, the S&P500 index, closed down 0.3% at 3,265. It struck an all-time high of 3,283 earlier. The S&P500 measures the value of the 500 largest US corporations by market capitalization. It rose 30 percent last year for its best advance since 2013. With Friday's slide, the S&P500 was still up almost 1 percent for 2020.
