US stocks drift as Wall Street heads for the finish of a big winning week

By STAN CHOE Associated Press Business Writer NEW YORK AP Wall Street is heading toward the finish of a strong potentially perfect week as U S stocks on Friday drift close to the all-time high they set just a scant months earlier though it may feel like an economic era ago The S P was up in early trading and potentially on track for a fifth straight gain It s heading for a rise for the week which would be its third big winning week in the last four as hopes build that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs against other countries after reaching commerce deals with them Such hopes have driven the S P back within of its record set in February after the index at the heart of various k accounts briefly dropped roughly below the mark last month The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down points or as of a m Eastern time and the Nasdaq composite was higher Trump s pact war had sent financial markets reeling worldwide because of twin dangers On one hand tariffs could slow the economic system and drive it into a recession On the other it could push inflation higher A couple better-than-expected reports on inflation this past week helped soothe a few those second worries But all the Trump s on-and-off rollout of tariffs could by itself damage the economic system by creating so much uncertainty that it causes U S households and businesses to freeze their spending and long-term plans A summary coming later in the morning will offer the latest snapshot of sentiment among U S consumers which has been souring sharply because of tariffs In the meantime Treasury yields eased in the bond region following this week s better-than-expected signals on inflation which could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut interest rates later this year if high tariffs drag down the U S business sector The yield on the -year Treasury fell to from late Thursday and from more than the day before that Lower bond yields can encourage investors to pay higher prices for stocks and other investments On Wall Street Charter Communications rose after it noted it agreed to merge with Cox Communications in a deal that would combine two of the country s largest cable companies The resulting company will change its name to Cox Communications and keep Charter s headquarters in Stamford Connecticut Novo Nordisk s stock that trades in the United States fell after the Danish company behind the Wegovy drug for weight loss announced that Lars Fruergaard J rgensen will step down as CEO and that the board is looking for his successor The company cited fresh sphere challenges and how the stock has been performing in recent days In stock markets abroad indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia Tokyo s Nikkei inched down by less than after the administration informed that Japan s business sector contracted at a faster rate than expected in the first quarter of the year AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed