Strong earnings from Nike have lifted the Dow while weakness in many tech names pushed the Nasdaq lower as a morning rally in US stocks fizzled.
At the closing bell on Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 16,313.13, up 111.81 points (0.69 per cent).
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.72 (0.04 per cent) to 1,931.52, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 47.98 (1.01 per cent) to 4,686.50.
US stocks opened solidly higher after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she still expects to raise interest rates in 2015.
But stocks weakened throughout the day, with technology and biotechnology names sustaining the biggest hit. Facebook dropped 1.7 per cent, Google fell 2.2 per cent and Gilead Sciences lost 2.3 per cent.
“We’re on this volatile chop,” said Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management.