Equities end flat but Dow ekes out record in strong week

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed nearly unchanged on Friday, as investors paused buying after a strong rally in the prior session that was fueled by an upsized interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve, while Nike's gains helped nudge the Dow to a record.

After notching their biggest daily percentage gains since mid-August, major averages were subdued for most of the session, but managed to secure weekly gains of at least 1%.

Stocks briefly had pared losses after comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller increased expectations the central bank will cut interest rates by 50 basis points at its November meeting, having just cut by 50 bps on Wednesday.

Fellow Governor Michelle Bowman, however, maintained that a smaller Fed cut this week would have been preferred.

"The market is still trying to recalibrate because, yes, there were some market participants that may have expected 50 basis points but a lot of people didn't," said Sid Vaidya, U.S. chief wealth strategist at TD Wealth in New York.

"You have to be a little bit more selective and measured just because we are expecting growth to slow down a little bit and valuations, especially in large-cap growth, are a bit stretched so you want to be a bit selective."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500?lost?10.27 points, or 0.18%, to end at 5,703.37 points, while the Nasdaq Composite?lost?65.66 points, or 0.36%, to 17,948.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average?rose?37.62 points, or 0.09%, to 42,062.81.

Markets are fully pricing in a cut of at least 25 bps in November, with expectations for a cut of 50 bps given a 48.9% chance, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Utilities surged as the best performing of the 11 major S&P sectors, led by a jump in Constellation Energy shares after the company signed a data-center deal with Microsoft to help resurrect a unit of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

Also supporting the Dow was Intel, whose shares gained ground late after the Wall Street Journal reported Qualcomm had made a takeover approach to the chipmaker.

The Fed began its monetary-easing cycle on Wednesday and projected a period of steady economic growth and low unemployment and inflation.

Options and futures linked to stock indexes and individual stocks were set to expire simultaneously on Friday in an event known as "triple witching."

FedEx plunged after lowering its full-year revenue forecast, sending the Dow Jones Transport index down.

Nike climbed after saying former senior executive Elliott Hill will rejoin the company to succeed John Donahoe as CEO.

Historically, equities have performed well in a rate-cutting environment. However, the outlook appears bleak with the S&P 500's valuations high above its long-term average.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Rod Nickel)