NEW YORK: US stocks on Friday finished a quiet day of trade higher as strong earnings from Nike helped offset a profit warning from DuPont.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 5.71 points (0.03 percent) to 16,851.84.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 3.74 (0.19 percent) to 1,960.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index put on 18.88 (0.43 percent) at 4,397.93.
Market data showed low trading volumes on a day with no major US government economic releases.
"It's very slow," said Steven Rosen, managing director at Societe Generale, who described the activity as characteristic of a "summer Friday."
Dow component DuPont lost 3.3 percent after the chemical and agricultural seed company said second-quarter earnings would be below last year's $1.28 per share and far under the $1.45 projected by analysts.
But athletic apparel and shoe company Nike, also a Dow component, rose 1.1 percent as earnings of 78 cents per share topped expectations by three cents. Higher sales offset the impact from a 36 percent rise in marketing expenses in part for the World Cup.
GoPro, which makes small video equipment popular among users of social media, rose again on its second day of trade following its initial public offering. The company gained 14.1 percent to close the week at $35.76, nearly 50 percent above its IPO price of $24.
Discount retailer Dollar General fell 7.3 percent on news that chief executive Richard Dreiling plans to retire in May 2015 or upon the appointment of a successor. The company's board is conducting an internal and external search for a new CEO.
Manitowoc, which sells cranes and foodservice equipment, jumped 10.8 percent following news that activist investor Relational Investors had taken a stake in the company and is pushing for a spin-off of the foodservice business to create two companies.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.53 percent, the same level as Thursday, while the 30-year rose to 3.37 percent from 3.34 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
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