Wall Street closes week with losses

Major equity indexes in the United States slipped on Friday as the weak retail sales and inflation data hurt the banks and the retailers. Furthermore, a recent report of cyber attacks across the globe hurt the market sentiment and kept the investors away from riskier assets.

The Commerce Department on Friday announced that the retail sales rose 0.4% percent in April after an upwardly revised 0.1% increase in March, but the data couldn't meet the expectation of 0.6% and wasn't seen as good enough to trigger a rebound in the department stores' shares, which dropped sharply on Thursday after disappointing individual sales figures. Other data showed that in the 12 months through April, the CPI increased 2.2%, lower from March's 2.4%. However, this number still remained above the 1.7% average annual increase over the last decade.

"The numbers were light again, people don't seem to be spending money despite employment and income numbers being good. It's concerning," Stephen Massocca, Senior Vice President at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco, told Reuters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 22.81 points, or 0.11%, to 20,896.61 points, the S&P 500 dropped 0.12 %, or 2.75 points, to 2,388.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.05% to 6,119.30. On a weekly basis, the S&P 500 Index is down 0.3% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 5 points. 

Headlines from the U.S. session

• US Retail Sales: Stronger finish for Q1, modest start in Q2 - Wells Fargo
• Fed's Harker: Acceleration in inflation could mean more than two more rate hikes this year - Reuters
• More than 45,000 ransomware attacks have been detected across the globe - BNO News
• US: Key events for next week - Danske Bank
• Fed's Harker: U.S. economy 'essentially at normal', labor market 'at full health'
• US April CPI confirms March “transitory” decline - Wells Fargo
• Fed's Evans: Could be okay with one more rate hike if there are more uncertainties about inflation outlook
• UoM Consumer Sentiment: May figure nearly identical with the December to May average of 97.4
• CME Group FedWatch's June hike probability eased below 80% post-CPI