Stocks slip but finish month with biggest gain in four years

The stock market drifted lower Friday but finished October with its biggest monthly gain in four years.

Government economic data released Friday and earlier this week suggest the economy is still sluggish, stuck in a pattern of gradual but uneven growth it has followed since the Great Recession. But the outlook for future growth improved, and fears waned that a slowing Chinese economy would send the U.S. economy into a tailspin.

Strong corporate earnings in sectors including health care and telecommunications also helped propel the market all the way back to positive for the year after a swoon in August and a rocky September.

On Friday, stocks were largely flat through much of the day, venturing into positive territory in the early afternoon before ending lower.

The S&P 500 fell 10.05, or 0.48 percent, to 2,079.36. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.26, or 0.52 percent, to 17,663.54. The Nasdaq composite index fell 20.52, or 0.40 percent, to 5,053.75.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has risen for five consecutive weeks and ended October up 8.3 percent, its best month since October 2011. The index’s increase of 159 points was the biggest in its 77-year history. The next best month was March 2000, the height of the dot-com bubble, when it rose 132 points.

Sam Stovall, U.S. equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, said a very strong October usually means the market won’t make big gains in November and December, muting the Santa Claus rally. He does expect stocks to keep rising for the rest of this year, though, and make gains in 2016, lifted by overall economic growth and improving corporate earnings.

The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending inched up just 0.1 percent in September, partly because consumers were spending less on gasoline as energy prices fell. The gain was the smallest in eight months. The department said Thursday that economic growth slowed sharply in the summer, although most economists think the economy has improved this month.

The busiest week of third-quarter earnings wrapped up Friday with big moves for a slew of companies. The professional networking service LinkedIn surpassed analyst estimates and its stock gained $23.87, or 11 percent, to $240.87. Drugmaker AbbVie surged as sales of its anti-inflammatory Humira, the biggest-selling drug in the world, continued to rise. AbbVie rose $5.45, or 10.1 percent, to $59.55.

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, said its profit fell almost two-thirds. The company said it will eliminate around 10 percent of its jobs, or up to 7,000 positions, and will also slash capital and exploration spending as it deals with lower oil prices that are cutting deeply into profit.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Stocks slip but finish month with biggest gain in four years."