LIVE MARKETS-US stocks flatline at conclusion of up-and-down week

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U.S. STOCKS FLATLINE AT CONCLUSION OF UP-AND-DOWN WEEK

Wall Street skidded to an unimpressive finish on Friday, as investors staggered toward the finish line of a topsy-turvy week marked by hot and cold inflation data, generally solid earnings and fears that U.S. President Donald Trump would oust Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who is widely seen as having a stabilizing effect on the markets.

Earlier gains faded after a report that President Trump will seek minimum tariffs of 15% to 20% on all imports from the European Union, brushing aside the EU's proposal to reduce tariffs on U.S. automotive exports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 142.30 points, or 0.32%, to 44,342.19, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.60 points, or 0.01%, to 6,296.76, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 10.01 points, or 0.05%, to 20,895.66.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted gains for the week, while the blue-chip Dow ended south of last Friday's close.

Utilities .SPLRCU and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD outperformed the broader market on the day, while homebuilding .SPCOMHOME and transports .DJT suffered some of the day's steepest sector losses.

On the earnings front, industrial conglomerate 3M MMM.N fell 3.7% after the company said the impact of tariffs will mostly be felt in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, Netflix NFLX.O dropped 5.1% breaching a one-month low despite its earnings beat and sweetened revenue guidance.

So far, 12% of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported, and 81% of those beat consensus estimates, according to LSEG data. Analysts now see aggregate year-over-year S&P 500 earnings growth of 6.7% for the quarter, an improvement from the 5.8% second-quarter growth expectations as of July 1.

Mag 7 members Alphabet GOOGL.O and Tesla TSLA.O are due to report in the coming week, as are tech giants IBM IBM.N and Intel INTC.O. A slew of industrials, including GM GM.N Lockheed Martin LMT.N, Northrop Grumman NOC.N, General Dynamics GD.N and Honeywell HON.N and Union Pacific UNP.N are on the docket.

Economic indicators showed a decrease in single-family housing starts and a slight improvement to UMich's still-depressed consumer sentiment index, which showed inflation expectations have cooled considerably since last month.

But the data did little to move the needle with respect to Fed rate cut expectations, despite pressure from Trump to do just that.

Financial markets are all but certain the central bank will delay its first rate cut of the year until its September policy meeting at the earliest. At last glance, there's a 57.8% chance of that happening, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

Next week is fairly light on the economics front, with July flash PMI, durable goods and new/existing home sales topping the roster.

Here's your closing snapshot:

(Stephen Culp)

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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

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INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR BEARS PUSH FORWARD, BULLS BACKTRACK - AAII CLICK HERE

STRATEGIST SEES MORE S&P 500 HIGHS DESPITE INVESTOR NERVES CLICK HERE

TGIF DATA: UMICH, HOUSING STARTS/BUILDING PERMITS CLICK HERE

WALL STREET MIXED, BUT S&P 500, NASDAQ PUSH FURTHER INTO RECORD HIGH TERRITORY CLICK HERE

NASDAQ AND S&P 500 ACHIEVE NEW HIGHS, DOW NEARS KEY LEVELS CLICK HERE

US BUDGET BILL TO CUSHION CORPORATE EARNINGS FROM HIGHER TARIFFS - BOFA CLICK HERE

FAVOUR QUALITY STOCKS WITH BALANCE SHEET STRENGTH OVER HIGH PROFITABILITY ONES - JPM CLICK HERE

WORRIES BUILDING BUT EARNINGS, GROWTH HOLDING UP CLICK HERE

STOXX HEADS HIGHER, SET FOR WEEKLY GAIN CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES HIGHER AS CONSUMER HOLDS UP CLICK HERE

STOCKS BUOYANT BUT JAPAN VOTE BRINGS RISK CLICK HERE