Stocks slip, but on track for great May

Diposkan oleh silent aja 3:32 AM Post a Comment

On the last trading day of the month, investors are hoping to put the 'sell in May and go away' mantra to bed for the year.

Here's what you should know:

1. Strong month, but sluggish start to Friday trading: The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were down modestly Friday, but are holding onto sizable monthly gains.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed at 1,920, surpassing its previous record high from earlier this week. So far this month, the index has surged by nearly 2%. The Nasdaq is undergoing an even more dramatic rebound after two months in the red, adding more than 3% in May.

All three indexes are now positive for the year. In another telling sign of a rebound, the CNNMoney Fear & Greed index is in neutral territory.

Related: Fear & Greed Index stalls in neutral

2. Market movers: Salesforce, Big Lots, Ann Taylor, Ford -- Salesforce shares were flat the company announced a partnership with Microsoft . The stock was one of the big moves pre-market, but the overall slip in stocks early Friday seems to have carried over to Salesforce.

Big Lots soared 11% after the retailer topped analyst earnings expectations and raised its outlook for the rest of the year.

Shares of Ann Taylor popped over 4% after the women's apparel company beat earnings estimates, boosted by sales increases in its more casual LOFT brand.

Ford stock was under pressure after the automaker announced four recalls affecting at least 1.4 million vehicles. The stock slipped modestly in early trading.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

3. International action: European markets were mostly lower in morning trading, with shares of BNP Paribas off by roughly 4.5%. The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. authorities were pushing the bank to pay more than $10 billion to settle a criminal probe of alleged sanctions violations.

Asian markets ended with mixed results.