NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks finished mixed on Friday as investors looked ahead to next week's Federal Reserve decision on interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.59 percent to 45,834.22. The S&P 500 slipped 0.05 percent to 6,584.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.44 percent to 22,141.1, marking its fifth consecutive record close.
Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended lower, with health care and materials leading the declines, down 1.13 percent and 0.97 percent, respectively. Consumer discretionary and utilities were the best performers, rising 0.57 percent and 0.56 percent.
The University of Michigan's preliminary survey showed consumer sentiment fell more than expected in September, while long-run inflation expectations rose to 3.9 percent as households expressed concern about tariffs.
Even so, investors remained confident that the Fed would cut rates at its Sept. 17 policy meeting. Futures markets point to a quarter-point reduction with near certainty, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
"Evidence of cooling consumer demand and a weakening jobs market is becoming more obvious. Inflation remains above target and tariffs are likely to keep it elevated in the near term, but the balance of risks are tilted towards the need for more support for the economy, starting with a 25bp cut on Wednesday, 17 September," said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING.
On the corporate front, Microsoft climbed 1.77 percent after striking a deal with OpenAI that would allow the artificial intelligence company to shift from a nonprofit to a for-profit model.
Tesla gained 7.36 percent, Apple added 1.76 percent, and Nvidia, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Broadcom posted modest advances. Amazon was the sole large-cap tech laggard, slipping 0.78 percent.
