U.S. stocks fall, but still on pace for a weekly gain on rate hopes

investing.com:

Investing.com — U.S. stocks were falling early Friday after earnings reports from major retailers beat expectations but set a cautious tone heading into holiday sales season.

At 10:35 ET (15:35 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 29 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.2%.

The main indices on Wall Street closed in a mixed fashion Thursday, with the 30-stock Dow ending a four-day streak of gains, while the benchmark S&P gained 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq posted minor gains.

That said, all three averages are on course for weekly gains, which would be their third straight positive week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are up more than 2% so far this week, while the DJIA is on pace for a 1.9% rise.

Sentiment has been boosted this week by data showing cooling inflation in the U.S., raising hopes that the Federal Reserve may have reached the end of an unprecedented and long-standing campaign of interest rate hikes.

Additionally, weekly jobless claims rose while U.S. retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in October, pointing to slowing demand at the start of the fourth quarter.

Housing data was the focus on Friday. October housing starts of 1.372 million were slightly ahead of expectations and higher than the prior month, while building permits of 1.487 million were also higher than expected. 

However, despite equity gains seen this week, retail executives, including those at Walmart (NYSE:WMT), the largest retailer in the U.S., warned about the possibility of a slowdown in the final quarter, seeing weakness in the spending habits of inflation-squeezed consumers.

Gap (NYSE:GPS) continued the theme late Thursday, with the clothing retailer posting