Friday's early afternoon trade: Dow on track to break 10-day record run

The Dow was on track to break its 10-day record-setting streak on Friday, as investors turned cautious after recent comments from Trump administration suggested that pro-growth policies may take longer to be implemented. Wall Street is trading at record levels since the election of Donald Trump as US president, spurred by his promises of tax reforms, reduced regulations and increased infrastructure spending.
However, with Trump giving scant detail on his plans - including one on Thursday to bring millions of jobs back to the United States - markets have traded in a tight range. The benchmark S&P 500 index has not registered a move of at least 1 percent in either direction since December 7. "There is an expectation that the tax cuts promised by the new administration may not be as large or as early as expected," said Mohannad Aama, managing director at Beam Capital Management in New York.
"Investors had priced in the most rosy outlook for the market under the Trump administrations and now their reality is slowly changing as they realise a lot of the new policies will take time and maybe the market has run up too fast too soon." US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that any policy steps would probably have only a limited impact this year. Investor will likely get more clarity on Trump's plan on Tuesday, when he addresses a joint session of Congress.
Still, the Dow and the S&P were on track to end the week higher, while the Nasdaq was set to register a loss. At 12:36 pm ET (1736 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 35.23 points, or 0.17 percent, at 20,775.09. The S&P 500 was down 3.75 points, or 0.15 percent, at 2,360.06. The Nasdaq Composite was down 9.73 points, or 0.17 percent, at 5,825.78. Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with the utilities index's 1.07 percent rise leading the gainers.