Inflation fears keep stocks mixed

Rising wholesale prices and a jump in oil futures intensified inflation fears Friday, keeping stocks mixed and sending bond prices falling. Blue chips saw a late boost from the pharmaceutical sector, but the major indexes finished the week with a loss.

The Labor Department’s report, which showed wholesale prices rising at the fastest rate in six years, caused a selloff on the bond market and pressured stocks as well. While the Producer Price Index rose just 0.3 percent in January, the “core” PPI figure — with volatile food and energy prices removed — rose 0.8 percent, a hefty one-month rise that could signal higher consumer prices down the road.

“Inflation-sensitive stocks are doing well, but that’s about it,” said Brian Pears, head equity trader at Victory Capital Management in Cleveland. “There’s not a lot of reason for people to make bets on too many other sectors.

But the Dow Jones industrials and large-cap stocks saw a boost in late trading as federal regulators approved the continued marketing of painkillers from Dow components Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc., saying that the benefits for patients outweighed increased risks of heart attack and strokes.

The Dow rose 30.96, or 0.29 percent, to 10,785.22. The Dow is once again up for the year to date — by just 2.21, or 0.02 percent.

Broader stock indicators were narrowly mixed. The S&P was up 0.84, or 0.07 percent, at 1,201.59, while the tech-focused Nasdaq composite index lost 2.72, or 0.13 percent, at 2,058.62.

“Stocks are definitely seeing a hit from the bond trade,” said Russ Koesterich, U.S. equity strategist for State Street Corp. in Boston. “With inflation worries picking up, it’ll be hard for this market to go higher as earnings growth decelerates and interest rates go up.”

A rise in oil prices also pressured stocks. A barrel of light crude was quoted at $48.35, up 81 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by nearly 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where preliminary consoldiated volume came to 1.93 billion shares, compared with 1.97 billion on Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 1.01, or 0.16 percent, at 630.13.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.67 percent. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 closed flat, France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.59 percent for the session, and Germany’s DAX index fell 0.23 percent.