Wall Street slips at the end of a bumpy week

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks slipped in afternoon trading Friday as Wall Street closes out a rare bumpy week.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, and is on track for a loss for the week after three straight weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81 points, or 0.2% to 43,833 as of 12:56 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq fell 0.3% and is hovering around its record.

Broadcom surged 20.2% after the semiconductor company beat Wall Street’s profit targets and gave a glowing forecast, highlighting its artificial intelligence products. The company also raised its dividend.

The company's big gain helped cushion the market's broader fall. Pricey stock values for technology companies like Broadcom give the sector more weight in pushing the market higher or lower.

Artificial intelligence technology has been a focal point for the technology sector and the overall stock market over the last year. Tech companies, and Wall Street, expect demand for AI to continue driving growth for semiconductor and other technology companies.

Furniture and housewares company RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, surged 14.3% after raising its forecast for revenue growth for the year.

Wall Street's rally stalled this week amid mixed economic reports and ahead of the Federal Reserve's last meeting of the year. The central bank will meet next week and is widely expected to cut interest rates for a third time since September.

Expectations of a series of rate cuts has driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year.

The Fed has been lowering its benchmark interest rate following an aggressive rate hiking policy that was meant to tame inflation. It raised rates from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023. Inflation eased under pressure from higher interest rates, nearly to the central bank's 2% target.

The economy, including consumer spending and employment, held strong despite the squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. A slowing job market, though, has helped push a long-awaited reversal of the Fed's policy.

Inflation rates have been warming up slightly over the last few months. A report on consumer prices this week showed an increase to 2.7% in November from 2.6% in October. The Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index, will be released next week. Wall Street expects it to show a 2.5% rise in November, up from 2.3% in October.

The economy, though, remains solid heading into 2025 as consumers continue spending and employment remains healthy, said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY.

“Still, the outlook is clouded by unusually high uncertainty surrounding regulatory, immigration, trade and tax policy,” he said.

Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.39% from 4.34% late Thursday.

European markets slipped. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%. Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% month-on-month in October, following a 0.1% decline in September, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Asian markets closed mostly lower.