US stocks end flat, record weekly losses

US stocks ended Friday’s session flat after a choppy trade, following signals by President Donald Trump suggesting that Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, would be excluded from the shortlist for the Federal Reserve Chair selection.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.17%, or 83 points, to 49,359, posting a weekly loss of 0.29%.

The broader S&P 500 closed unchanged at 6,940, but edged down 0.38% over the week.

The Nasdaq Composite also finished flat at 23,515, recording a weekly loss of 0.66%.

In Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 closed flat at 614.38 points, securing weekly gains of 0.75%.

Germany’s DAX slipped 0.20% to 25,297 points, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.65% to 8,258. Britain’s FTSE 100 was unchanged at 10,235 points.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.30% to 53,936 points, while the broader Topix index fell by a similar margin to close at 3,658 points.

On commodities, Brent crude futures for March delivery rose 0.58%, or 37 cents, to $64.13 a barrel, extending weekly gains to 1.25%.

US WTI crude for February delivery gained 0.42%, or 25 cents, to $59.44 a barrel, up 0.54% on the week.

Gold futures for February delivery fell 0.61%, or $28.3, to $4,595.40 an ounce, but still logged weekly gains of 2%.