The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite inched to fresh highs Monday, lifted by gains in technology and energy shares. A new record close from Apple boosted the indexes, which spent much of the day in negative territory before popping higher in the final minutes of trading. Energy firms were the best-performing sector in the S&P 500, adding 0.7% as oil prices climbed. Declines in industrial-metals prices weighed on materials producers, limiting gains. Materials shares in the S&P 500 fell 0.9% as copper prices slipped after weak economic data from China raised concerns about slowing demand from the world’s largest consumer of the metal. Declines in shares of Walt Disney and Boeing dragged down the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday. The Consumer Discretionary sector faces another test Friday, when monthly retail sales data are due. Some analysts said it could also help clarify whether recent signs of cooling economic growth are temporary, as the Federal Reserve has suggested. U.S. stock indexes pulled back Thursday, as disappointing earnings reports put pressure on shares of consumer-discretionary companies. Major indexes initially headed toward one of their biggest declines of the month as retail stocks slid, then pared losses heading into the afternoon. Consumer-discretionary shares in the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, posting the biggest decline among the index’s 11 sectors, after retail giants including Macy’s and Kohl’s posted tepid quarterly results. Investors sold shares of brick-and-mortar retailers, pressuring U.S. stocks and contributing to the S&P 500’s first weekly decline in a month. Disappointing retail earnings abounded during the week, and retail sales improved slightly less than anticipated in April, according to the Commerce Department on Friday. Treasury yields and the dollar edged lower Friday, after a closely watched measure of underlying U.S. inflation came in soft. When excluding food and energy prices, the consumer-price index, which measures what Americans pay for everything from vegetables to new vehicles, rose 1.9% in April from the prior year, the first time it has been below 2% since October 2015, the Labor Department reported.
