04:40 PM EDT, 09/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average stretched its record closing run Friday as markets evaluated remarks by two Federal Reserve governors.

The Dow rose 0.1% to 42,063.4. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 17,948.3, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.2% to 5,702.6, retreating from its all-time high on Thursday. Among sectors, utilities led the gainers, while industrials and materials saw the steepest declines.

For the week, the Nasdaq increased 1.5%, while the S&P 500 added 1.4%. The Dow gained 1.6%.

On Wednesday, the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to a range of 4.75% to 5%.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said Friday she preferred a smaller 25-basis-point cut at the meeting.

"Although it is important to recognize that there has been meaningful progress on lowering inflation, while core inflation remains around or above 2.5%, I see the risk that the committee's larger policy action could be interpreted as a premature declaration of victory on our price stability mandate," Bowman said.

Separately, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he was in the 50-basis-point-cut camp because "inflation is softening much faster than I thought it was going to," CNBC reported.

The FOMC's Summary of Economic Projections showed Wednesday that policymakers trimmed their median federal funds rate outlooks from 2024 through 2026 while raising their unemployment rate expectations.

"After a bit of a digestion period, investors are now praising the Fed's 'recalibration' of policy," Stifel said in a Friday note to clients. "Following a larger, more aggressive (50-basis-point) cut out of the gate, the market now seems to be anticipating a rush back to accommodation, as opposed to policy simply resetting from restrictive back to neutral."

The US two-year yield fell 1.3 basis points to 3.59%, while the 10-year rate was little changed at 3.74%.

In company news, Constellation Energy ( CEG ) signed a 20-year power purchase deal with Microsoft ( MSFT ) that would result in the energy company restarting the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to help power the technology giant's data centers with carbon-free energy. Constellation shares jumped 22%, the best performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, while Microsoft ( MSFT ) fell 0.8%.

Nike ( NKE ) was the top gainer on the Dow and among the best on the S&P 500, up 6.8%. Late Thursday, the athletic footwear and apparel maker announced that John Donahoe will retire as chief executive next month, with former longtime company executive Elliott Hill returning to lead the company.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) made a takeover approach to rival chipmaker Intel ( INTC ) in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Intel ( INTC ) shares rose 3.3%, among the top gainers on the Dow and the Nasdaq, while Qualcomm ( QCOM ) fell 2.9%.

FedEx ( FDX ) was the worst performer on the S&P 500, down 15%. The parcel delivery company's fiscal first-quarter results unexpectedly declined year over year late Thursday amid weak demand trends.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was fractionally down at $71.92 a barrel.

Gold rose 1.2% to $2,645.70 per troy ounce, while silver was down less than 0.1% to $31.41 per ounce.