THE Dow and S&P 500 eased from record highs Friday as tepid data dampened investor confidence in the economy’s expansion, while the NASDAQ inched up to a second straight record high close.

    Among the S&P 500’s biggest drags was Dow Chemical, which fell 2.4 percent to US$52.33, while DuPont declined 1.9 percent to US$67.66, a day after European Union regulators opened a full investigation of their US$130 billion merger agreement.

    The S&P materials index, down 1.2 percent, led sector declines in the benchmark index.

    Economic data showed U.S. retail sales growth was unexpectedly flat in July as people cut back on buying clothes and other goods, while the producer price index fell 0.4 percent in July, the biggest drop in nearly a year.

    All three major U.S. stock indexes ended at record highs Thursday for the first time since 1999, extending a recent rally that has increased investor concern about pricey valuations.

    A stock market rally since late June has pushed the S&P up 7 percent in 2016, helped by better-than-expected quarterly results.

    However, some investors are concerned about high valuations. The S&P 500 is now priced at about 17 times expected profits, compared with a 10-year average of 14 times, according to Thomson Reuters data.

    “It’s gotten to a level which I would call overvalued ... and maybe I can’t call it a bubble yet but we’re pretty close in my view,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York, adding, “It’s not as speculative as 1999.”

    In the dot-com bubble from about 1997 to 2000, investors saw a rapid rise in stocks, especially those related to the Internet.

    On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 37.05points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,576.47, and the S&P 500 lost 1.74 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,184.05, while the NASDAQ Composite added 4.50 points, or 0.09 percent, to 5,232.90, a record high close.

    For the week, the Dow rose 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent and the NASDAQ gained 0.2 percent.

    Giving the NASDAQ its biggest boost Friday, shares of chipmaker Nvidia gained 5.6 percent to US$63.04, a day after it reported its fastest quarterly sales growth in nearly five years.

    Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.06-to-1 ratio; on NASDAQ, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

    The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the NASDAQ Composite recorded 77 new highs and 31 new lows.(SD-Agencies)