By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow notched a three-week winning streak despite ending lower on Friday as utilities and healthcare stepped up to fill the gap left by sluggish tech stocks.
The S&P 500 gained 0.29%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.28% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23%.
In a sign that bullish investor sentiment is waning, utilities, often used as a defensive play, were among the biggest gainers, rising nearly 2%.
Healthcare was also among the biggest gainers, led by a jump in Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) on reports the European Union is in talks with various drug makers to buy millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Tech, which is on pace for a weekly loss, bounced off session lows but gains were kept in check by a slump in FAANG component Netflix.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 6.5% after reporting second-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and serving up a gloomy outlook on subscriber growth for the rest of the year.
The streaming giant's report prompted several analysts on Wall Street to rein in their optimism on the stock.
Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) downgraded Netflix to neutral from outperform, citing "a lack of near term catalysts." The bank also cut its price target on the stock to $525 from $550.
The economic front, meanwhile, offered up further ammo for the bears as data showed consumer sentiment softened, which analyst warned could be a sign that economic growth could slow amid a sharp increase in cases.
The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment fell to 73.2 in early July. "We do not expect to see a material increase in consumer sentiment until it is widely viewed that the virus is under control," Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) said.
The U.S. reported 77,200 cases on Thursday, a daily record, with the death toll above 138,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The increase in cases has been led by an ongoing rise in virus hotspots across the U.S. including Texas, Florida, Arizona, and California, which reported 9,986 the virus cases compared with a 14-day average of 8,241.
Elsewhere, Tesla rival Nio Inc Class (NYSE:NIO) slumped 15% on Friday after Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) downgraded the stock to a sell, citing valuation concerns.