Is it September yet? Investors are ready to say goodbye to August, which has been the cruelest month during an otherwise sunny 2013.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are on track to lose between 3% and 4% this month. But they are still up between 13% and 15% for the year.
The Nasdaq held up better in August and is on track to only dip slightly. The tech-heavy index has gained 20% year-to-date.
All three indexes were down slightly Friday. Volume has been low all week, which is typical for late August. The U.S. markets will be closed Monday for Labor Day.
Stocks closed higher Thursday on better-than-expected readings on U.S. gross domestic product and initial jobless claims.
But investors have also been keeping a close eye on the Middle East. The threat of a U.S. led-military strike on Syria has dominated the headlines earlier this week, pushing stocks lower and oil and gold higher.
Fears of imminent action have receded for now, but investors are still watching and waiting.
What’s moving: General Electric shares were the best performer on the Dow, rising more than 1% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the firm is preparing to spin off its retail lending business.
Salesforce.com shares shot up after the cloud-based software company reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings Thursday afternoon.
Killed by the cronut? Krispy Kreme shares were down 10% after the doughnut maker missed earnings estimates and lowered its full-year guidance Thursday.
Shares of energy producer Apache soared after it announced it was selling a 33% stake of its oil and gas holdings in Egypt to China’s Sinopec for $3.1 billion.
European markets fell Friday, while Asian markets closed in mixed territory.
