MARKET SNAPSHOT: Dow, S&P 500 Set For Solid Weekly Gains, But Weak Tech Shares Hold Nasdaq Back

Dow flirts with strongest weekly gain since December 2016

U.S. stock-market indexes switched between small gains and losses on Friday as investors prepared to wrap up a tumultuous week that's seen disparate results across sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 looked set for solid weekly gains, which were driven by rallies in industrials, financials and energy shares. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is set to end the week lower, however after a big selloff among the largest, highflying stocks.

Where are stocks trading?

The blue-chip benchmark Dow industrials was up by 6 points to 24,271, still on track for a 3% gain over the week, which would be the biggest one-week jump since December last year.

Read: Where to stash your money when this bull market makes you sweat (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/where-to-stash-your-money-when-this-bull-market-makes-you-sweat-2017-11-30)

The S&P 500 was up by 1.8 points, or 0.1%, to 2,649. The benchmark index is on track to end the week 1.6% higher.

The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 6 points, or 0.1%, to 6,868 and looked set for a 0.3% weekly loss.

The Nasdaq index on Wednesday suffered its biggest drop in more than three months, as highflying tech stocks slumped amid portfolio rebalancing among traders.

What's driving the market?

Non-tech stocks have rallied this week on growing optimism the Senate would approve a major tax overhaul that's seen as supportive to financial markets. The final vote on the bill was expected late Thursday but was pushed to Friday because a number of issues still remained unresolved (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2017/11/30/republican-tax-plan-heads-for-senate-vote-live-updates/).

Read:Here's what's next for the Senate's tax bill (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-whats-next-for-the-senates-tax-bill-2017-11-30)

Among key concerns is how to finance the tax cuts. On Thursday, the Joint Committee on Taxation said the Senate bill would generate more than $400 billion in revenue over 10 years through economic growth, but that's not nearly enough to compensate for the measure's $1.4 trillion cost.

What are strategists saying?

"It's been a great week so far and seeing a little bit of consolidation is not surprising," said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist at Voya Financial.

"Our longer term outlook is still bullish, however. All economic indicators are pointing to a growing trend. Besides, the passing of the tax cuts bill, which we think will happen before the end of the year will be a Christmas present for investors," Cavanaugh said.

What's on the economic docket?

The Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index for November fell to 53.9 from 54.6 in October. The ISM manufacturing reading (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-manufacturers-roar-ahead-ism-shows-2017-12-01)dipped to 58.2% in November from 58.7% in October.

What stocks are moving?

Mylan NV(MYL) shares jumped 3% after a CNBC report on Thursday that Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was holding preliminary talks with generic drugmakers (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-has-discussed-pharmacy-business-with-generic-drugmakers-report-2017-11-30)--including Mylan and Novartis AG(NOVN.EB) (NOVN.EB) unit Sandoz--as it contemplates entering the pharmacy business.

Energy shares also attracted investors. NRG Energy Inc shares rose 2.5%, while Schlumberger NV rose 2.2%.

Some heavily-weighted tech stocks continued to weaken. Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) fell 1%, while NVIDIA Copr (NVDA) slid 1.5%, and Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) dropped 0.8%.

Shares of General Motors Co. (GM) fell 1.5% after the car maker reported monthly sales in the U.S. fell by 2.9%, with declines in all brands.

Shares of Blue Apron Holdings Inc.(APRN) climbed 3.2% after the struggling meal-kit maker late Thursday installed Chief Financial Officer Brad Dickerson as Chief Executive (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/blue-apron-installs-new-ceo-as-post-ipo-doldrums-continue-2017-11-30), pushing out co-founder Matthew Salzberg.

Read:'It made us look bad': Pharma CEOs clash over Allergan patent move (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-made-us-look-bad-pharma-ceos-clash-over-allergan-patent-move-2017-11-30)

What are other markets doing?

Asian markets closed mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-reverse-course-give-up-early-gains-2017-11-30), while European stocks were firmly lower in the early going.

Oil prices advanced (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-build-on-gains-after-opec-agreement-to-extend-production-curbs-2017-12-01), building on gains seen after major oil producers, as expected, on Thursday hammered out an agreement to extend ongoing production curbs through 2018. Crude for January traded 0.8% higher at $57.84 a barrel.

Gold prices were flat at $1,276.10 an ounce. The ICE Dollar index inched higher, up 0.1% at 93.135.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2017 10:35 ET (15:35 GMT)