US stocks were little changed on Friday amid a dearth of data and ahead of a holiday-shortened week in the United States, a day after the Dow industrials closed above 16,000 for the first time. The Dow's record high came Thursday as data on inflation and the labour market soothed fears the Federal Reserve could be ready to start winding down a stimulus program that has lifted the benchmark S&P 500 by almost 26 percent this year.
Even after the US central bank starts winding down its stimulus, monetary policy is likely to be very accommodative for some time, likely for years, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart said on CNBC on Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.17 points or 0.06 percent, to 16,020.16, the S&P 500 gained 2.47 points or 0.14 percent, to 1,798.32 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.904 points or 0.3 percent, to 3,981.058.