Stock market today: Wall Street edges back from its records

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are edging back from their records on Friday as caution creeps into financial markets heading into the weekend.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in early trading after setting an all-time high every day earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 147 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.3%.

The losses were sharper across the Atlantic, where European stocks have been rocked by the results of recent elections on the continent. Wins by far-right parties have raised the pressure on France’s centrist president in particular, and investors worry it could stall current fiscal plans and ultimately hurt France’s ability to pay its debt. Other elections recently have also shaken markets in Mexico, India and elsewhere.

France’s CAC 40 fell 2.4% to bring its loss for the week to 6%, its worst in more than two years. Germany’s DAX lost 1.2%.

U.S. Treasury yields eased as investors sought out safer harbors for their money. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which goes down when its prices goes up, fell to 4.22% from 4.25% late Thursday.

On Wall Street, RH fell 14.6% after reporting a worse loss for the latest quarter than financial analysts expected. The seller of home furnishings called this “the most challenging housing market in three decades.”

High mortgage rates have hurt the housing market, as the Federal Reserve has kept its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades. The central bank is intentionally slowing the economy through high rates, hoping to starve inflation of its fuel.

Stocks have nevertheless set records as hopes rise that inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Big technology stocks, meanwhile, continue to race ahead almost regardless of what the economy and interest rates are doing.

Adobe jumped 14.5% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% after the country’s central bank held steady on interest rates.

AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed.