Worries about inflation weighed on Wall Street Friday, leaving major indexes mixed after a report showed wages for U.S. workers are accelerating, which is good news for them but could feed into even higher inflation for the nation.
The S&P 500 ended 0.1 percent lower after having been down as much as 1.2 percent earlier in the day. The Nasdaq composite also trimmed its deficit, falling 0.2 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1 percent gain. The indexes all notched gains for the week.
Stocks had been on the upswing for the last month on hopes the worst of the nation’s high inflation may have passed already. That fed expectations for the Federal Reserve to dial down the intensity of its big interest-rate hikes. Such hikes aim to undercut inflation by slowing the economy and dragging down prices for stocks and other investments….