US markets end mostly in red amid mixed economic data

16 Aug 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly in red on Friday with only Dow Jones Industrial Average managing to garner some gains. The broader markets came under pressure following the release of mixed batch of U.S. economic data, which has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for the economy and interest rates. The Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales increased in line with street’s expectation in July. The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.5 percent in July after jumping by an upwardly revised 0.9 percent in June. The street had expected retail sales to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan released a separate report showing an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in August. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index fell to 58.6 in August from 61.7 in July. Meanwhile, street had expected the index to inch up to 62.0.

On the inflation front, year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 4.9 percent in August from 4.5 in July, reflecting increases across multiple demographic groups and all three political affiliations. A separate report released by the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of July, while the Federal Reserve released a report showing a slight pullback by industrial production in July.

Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 34.86 points or 0.08 percent to 44,946.12, while Nasdaq slid 87.69 points or 0.4 percent to 21,622.98 and S&P 500 fell 18.74 points or 0.29 percent to 6,449.80.

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