Stocks Finish Friday with Gains, but Down More Than Two Percent for the Week

Stocks finished up for the day, but down for the week, with the Dow Industrials retracing all of its gains from the prior week, losing 414.99 points, a 2.29% decline.

The S&P 500 lost 47.08 points, 2.23%, roughly the same as the Dow. Both indices are trading below their 50-day simple moving average.

The NASDAQ had the best gains of the past two days, but still finished the week down 135.20 points, and 2.69%. It is still hovering just above the 50-DMA.

Other than the third revision to 4th quarter GDP, there was little in the way of economic news on the session, which made for a dull time, except for the final thirty minutes, in which most of the gains were made. The revision was not revised at all, finalizing the fourth quarter GDP at 2.2% and the year at a squeamish 2.42%, not much to write home about or encourage rate hike hawks on the Fed.

There was a notable lack of volume in the final session of the week. With two trading days left in March, the focus will be on the Monday and Tuesday sessions, to see if the quarter can end positively. While the NASDAQ is clearly in the green for the year, the Dow and S&P are about even. Small losses on either or both days could tip them into the red.

If you held gold or silver for the week, you're way ahead of the stock-picking crowd.

Dow 17,712.66, +34.43 (0.19%)
S&P 500 2,061.02, +4.87 (0.24%)
NASDAQ 4,891.22, +27.86 (0.57%)