Stocks edged lower on Wall Street Friday, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 index below a five-year high reached the day before. The S&P 500 fell two points to 1,470 as of noon Eastern. It closed at 1,472 Thursday, its highest level since December 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average fell a point to 13,469. The Nasdaq composite index dropped three points to 3,119.
With corporate earnings season in full swing -- watch for McDonalds, along with Catepillar, Amazon and other -- and with the Fed meeting on interest rates, the GDP estimate and housing numbers coming out -- the week ahead is expected to be quite busy.
Increased consumer spending helped boost second quarter earnings for credit card giant American Express Thursday, which reported a $1 billion profit, nearly tripling the $337 million it reported for the a year ago quarter.