An early rally faded on Friday and the Dow just missed out on closing at its first record high of the year. US stocks were mixed on Friday. The Dow closed higher by 35 points, or 0.08%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 fell 0.

All three major stock indexes finished higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbing to fresh records despite bouts of weakness, as traders boosted the chances of 2025 interest-rate cuts.

The blue-chip Dow was less than 1% away from an all-time high and the Russell 2000 index which tracks rate-sensitive small-cap companies, added 0.8% to hit a six-month high.