The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both eked out slight gains on Friday to end a volatile week. The Nasdaq, however, slipped lower as China's crackdown on cryptocurrencies impacted the technology stocks that depend of crypto-related revenue. China's central bank had ruled all cryptocurrency-related activity to be illegal on Friday.
The Nasdaq also trailed behind other major Wall Street averages for the week, with the tech-heavy benchmark just added 0.02%, while the S&P 500 and Dow finished 0.5% and 0.6% higher, respectively.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.15% or +6.50 points to 4,455.48
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.10% or +33.18 points to 34,798.00
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.03% or -4.54 points to 15,047.70
Costco to limit high-demand care items amid shipping delays:
Costco (NASDAQ: COST) Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said during an earnings call on Thursday the company is limiting sales of key personal care items--including toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water and high-demand cleaning product--as shipping delays and truck driver shortages are impacting their availability.
"A year ago there was a shortage of merchandise," Galanti said. "Now they've got plenty of merchandise but there's two-of three-week delays on getting it delivered because there's a limit on short-term changes to trucking and delivery needs of the suppliers, so it really is all over he board."
New homes sales rose higher than expected in August:
New home sales in the United States rose by a more-than-expected rate in August, with an increase in purchases in the Northeast driving sales to their highest level since April.
Sales of newly built homes were up 1.5% in August to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 740,000, according to the Commerce Department's latest report published Friday. Consensus economists were expecting a rose of just 1.0%, according to Bloomberg. Moreover, new home sales in July were sharply upwardly revised to 6.4% from the 1.0% increase previously reported.
By region, the Northeast saw the biggest increase in sales at 26.1% in August, while sales in the Midwest fell 31.1% on the month. Meanwhile, the South and West saw a moderate increase in monthly sales.
Here's how benchmarks started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: -0.25% or -10.94 points to 4,438.04
Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.01% or -2.51 points to 34,762.31
Nasdaq Composite Index: -0.60% or -90.63 points to 14,961.61