Stock market today; Wall Street heads for its longest weekly winning streak of the year

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging around their records Friday after Netflix jumped and CVS Health slid amid mixed reports on profits.

The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in morning trading and approaching its all-time high set early this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 115 points, or 0.3%, a day after setting its own record, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Netflix jumped 10.5% after the streaming giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. That was despite a slowdown in subscriber growth.

It helped offset an 8.5% drop for CVS Health, which said it’s likely to report a profit for the latest quarter that’s well below what analysts had been expecting. The company also said David Joyner, an executive vice president, is taking over as president and CEO for Karen Lynch.

Trading overall on Wall Street remained relatively calm, as the S&P 500 heads toward the close of a sixth straight winning week, which would be its longest such streak of the year.

Solid economic data has boosted hopes the U.S. economy can make a perfect escape from the worst inflation in generations, one that ends without a painful recession that many investors had seen as nearly inevitable. And with the Federal Reserve now cutting interest rates to keep the economy humming, the expectation among optimists is that stocks can rise even further.

But critics are warning that stock prices look too expensive given how much faster they’ve climbed than corporate profits.

David Lefkowitz, head of U.S. equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, sees both sides. But he says that while stock prices are indeed high relative to profits, they're "reasonable" when considering the Fed is cutting interest rates and other factors. He's also expecting growth in corporate profits to continue, and he raised his forecast for where the S&P 500 could be in June to 6,300 from 6,200.

On Wall Street, American Express fell 4.8% despite reporting better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of forecasts, and it said its revenue for the full year of 2024 will likely come in at the lower end of the forecasted range it gave at the start of the year.

The credit-card company's drop was the biggest reason the Dow dragged behind other stock indexes.

SLB, the giant that helps companies extract oil and natural gas, fell 2.6% after delivering a mixed earnings report. Its profit edged past analysts’ expectations, but its revenue fell short as lower crude prices pushed some international producers to be cautious with their spending. CEO Olivier Le Peuch said revenue grew in the Middle East and Asia, along with offshore North America, but declined in Latin America.

Oil prices have tumbled this week as worries receded that Israel will attack Iranian oil facilities as part of its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack early this month. Iran is a major producer of crude, and a strike could upend its exports to China and elsewhere. Concerns about the strength of demand from China have also hit oil prices.

A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell another 2.2% Friday and was heading for an 8% decline for the week. It’s back below $74 after topping $80 early last week.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Intuitive Surgical, which climbed 8.5% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. The company, whose robotic-assisted systems allow for less invasive surgery, also delivered better revenue than expected.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.07% from 4.10% late Thursday.

Traders are coalescing around the idea that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point at its next meeting in November. Expectations had been high earlier for the Fed to deliver another larger-than-usual cut of half a percentage point, but strong updates on the economy have eliminated those. The federal funds rate is currently sitting in a range of 4.75% to 5%.

In stock markets abroad, Chinese indexes jumped in their latest sharp swing. Stocks rose 2.9% in Shanghai and 3.6% in Hong Kong after a report showed growth slowed during the summer for the world’s second-largest economy.

The slowdown, exacerbated by a weak real-estate market, has raised expectations for big stimulus from the Chinese government and central bank, though doubts are still prevalent about how much effect they will have.

Stock indexes were mixed elsewhere in Asia and Europe.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

FILE - A man approaches an entrance to the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

FILE - American flags, left, hang from the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says Kylian Mbappé “is not affected” by the Swedish media reports this week that said the France captain was the subject of a rape investigation. Mbappé’s legal team dismissed those reports as false.

“I do not pay attention to speculations that come from outside the team. The player is not affected in the least,” Ancelotti said Friday.

The reports in Swedish media came out after the striker visited Stockholm during the international break when he was not called up by France due to a minor injury.

Without citing sources, Swedish media reported Mbappé was the subject of an investigation of an alleged rape at a hotel in Stockholm. Mbappé’s representatives have called the reports “false and irresponsible.” Swedish prosecutors issued a brief statement on Tuesday saying a rape had been reported to police, but didn’t name any suspect.

Ancelotti defended his player’s right to travel on his time off.

“The rest days are programmed for him and he can choose what he wants to do,” the Italian manager said. “I went to London for two days and didn’t ask anyone for permission.”

Mbappé injured his left thigh in late September. But he missed only one game for Madrid, returning as a substitute in a shock 1-0 loss to Lille in the Champions League before starting in a 2-0 victory over Villarreal in the Spanish league. He then sat out the international window.

Mbappé trained for Madrid this week before the Spanish league resumes. Madrid plays at Celta Vigo on Saturday.

“(Mbappé) took advantage of the break to improve his fitness and get well after the injury,” Ancelotti said. “He is happy and ready to play and be important for the team. These 15 days have helped because he is now a different player than before the break.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, center, gestures during a training session with his teammates at Real Madrid's Valdebebas training ground in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe gestures during a training session at Real Madrid's Valdebebas training ground in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe looks down during a training session at Real Madrid's Valdebebas training ground in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe attends a training session at Real Madrid's Valdebebas training ground in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)