MARKET SNAPSHOT: Stock Market Takes Breather But Is Poised For April Gains

Nasdaq touches intraday record

U.S. stocks retreated on Friday even as the Nasdaq touched a fresh intraday record as investors took a cautious stance ahead of the weekend marking President Donald Trump's 100th day in office.

Also pressuring the market was a disappointing reading of first-quarter gross domestic product, the official scorecard of the U.S. economy, which showed the slowest pace of growth in three years. Meanwhile, the threat of a government shutdown was averted (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/house-passes-one-week-funding-bill-to-avert-government-shutdown-2017-04-28-111035055)by extending the funding for another week.

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-what-would-happen-during-a-government-shutdown-2017-03-29)The S&P 500 index was off by 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,383 with eight of the 11 main sectors trading lower. Energy, tech and health-care stocks were in the green, but the rest of the sectors were in negative territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 43 points, or 0.2%, to 20,937.

The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 3 points to 6,045 after briefly touching an intraday high at 6,074.04. Big gains from tech heavyweights Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) (GOOGL) following upbeat earnings helped to slow the index's slide.

This "feels like a breather after a hell of a rally this week," said Ian Winer, head of equities at Wedbush Securities.

Major indexes are on track to log strong gains for the week and for the month with the large-cap index poised for one of its best weekly performance since mid-February.

Read:How Trump's stock market ranks as he nears 100th day in office (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-the-trump-stock-market-ranks-as-he-approaches-his-100th-day-in-office-2017-04-12)

"We've had a lot of good news over the last week, including earnings and a tax-reform announcement, leaving not a lot of room to react to big tech earnings any more," said Kim Forrest, senior analyst and portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

Stock movers:Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) reported revenue below forecasts, sending its shares down 1.5%.

VF Corp. (VFC) fell more than 4% after the Wrangler and North Face parent missed profit expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wrangler-and-north-face-parent-vf-corp-misses-profit-and-sales-expectations-2017-04-28).

Oil heavyweights Exxon Mobil Corp.(XOM) and Chevron Corp.(CVX) reported earnings above estimates, sending their shares higher.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.(GT) shares rose 2.1% as the company beat earnings estimate, even as revenue sales disappointed.

Shares of Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM) were 0.4% lower after the chip maker issued a profit warning, citing a longstanding patent-dispute with Apple Inc. (AAPL), which it says is withholding payments (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qualcomm-issues-profit-warning-blames-apple-2017-04-28) on sales in the quarter ended in March.

Shares of Western Digital Corp.(WDC) surged 3.8% after the computer-data storage company late Thursday reported revenue and profit that topped forecasts.

Intel Corp.(INTC) slid 4% even after it reported a 45% jump in quarterly earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/intel-shares-slide-after-first-quarter-earnings-release-2017-04-27) late Thursday. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/intel-shares-fall-but-pc-sales-help-earnings-rise-2017-04-27)

Starbucks Corp.(SBUX) lost 2.4% after the coffee chain's revenue targets fell short of consensus forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/starbucks-shares-slip-as-revenue-falls-short-of-street-view-2017-04-27).

Shares of GoPro Inc.(GPRO) skidded 6.3% even as the action camera maker late Thursday reported better-than-expected first-quarter results (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gopros-stock-jumps-after-results-outlook-beat-expectations-2017-04-27) and second-quarter outlook.

Economic data: A first reading on U.S. economic growth in the first quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-economy-posts-slowest-growth-in-three-years-first-quarter-gdp-shows-2017-04-28)at a 0.7% rate was below forecasts, but the early market reaction to the report was muted.

The employment-cost index jumped 0.8% in the first three months of 2017.

Meanwhile, a reading of consumer sentiment for April was at 97 versus an initial reading of 98, but the gauge of confidence was up from 96.9 reading in March.

Other markets: Crude-oil prices rebounded on Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-climb-over-1-rebounding-from-latest-bout-of-selling-2017-04-28) after settling at their lowest level in about a month on Thursday.

Gold settled slightly higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-firms-ahead-of-gdp-report-but-on-track-for-more-than-1-weekly-drop-2017-04-28), while the U.S. Dollar Index was mostly flat.

Asian stock markets (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-retreat-as-investors-show-caution-2017-04-27) closed mixed, while European equities were weaker (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-drop-for-second-day-ahead-of-top-tier-data-2017-04-28).

--Barbara Kollmeyer and Sara Sjolin contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2017 15:03 ET (19:03 GMT)