Wall Street Drifts Lower Friday

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks drifted lower in morning trading on Wall Street Friday as the market comes off its best month in more than a year.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57 points, or 0.2% to 36,011 as of 10:01 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq fell 0.3%.

Big communication and technology companies were the heaviest weights on the market. Chipmaker Intel fell 2.4% and Google's parent company, Alphabet, fell 1.1%.

Wall Street had a mixed batch of late earnings reports and financial updates to review. Computer maker Dell fell 5.3% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast. Beauty products retailer Ulta Beauty rose 12% after reporting results that beat estimates.

Investors were dealing with an otherwise quiet day in a week that included some key economic reports. Treasury yields held steady and crude oil prices were relatively stable. European markets were slightly higher and Asian markets closed mostly lower.

Markets marched steadily higher through much of November as investors grew hopeful that the Federal Reserve is finally done raising interest rates in its fight to control inflation. Recent economic data supports that view.

On Thursday, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation showed a cooling last month. Inflation has been easing overall since the middle of 2022 when the Fed started aggressively raising its benchmark interest rate.