02:00 PM EDT, 05/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were mixed after midday Friday as a survey showed US consumer sentiment tumbling and inflation expectations rising.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2% at 16,312.9 intraday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 39,465.6. The S&P 500 was almost flat at 5,214.4. Among sectors, energy saw the steepest decline, while consumer staples led the gainers.

In economic news, preliminary data from the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers showed the main sentiment gauge declined to 67.4 in May from 77.2 last month in what Jefferies called the biggest month-to-month decline since August 2021. The consensus was for a smaller decrease to a 76.2 level, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Year-ahead inflation expectations increased to 3.5% this month from 3.2% in April. The five-year price growth outlook ticked up to 3.1% from 3%, according to the survey.

"While consumers had been reserving judgment for the past few months, they now perceive negative developments on a number of dimensions," Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said. "They expressed worries that inflation, unemployment and interest rates may all be moving in an unfavorable direction in the year ahead."

The US two-year yield jumped 5.6 basis points to 4.86% intraday, while the 10-year rate gained 5.1 basis points to 4.50%.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said it's of "utmost importance" that policymakers maintain credibility in their fight against inflation by moving ahead carefully and deliberately to achieve their 2% target.

In a bid to combat inflation, the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee tightened monetary policy by 525 basis points from March 2022 through July 2023. It has kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged since then, with its latest pause coming last week.

In company news, Akamai Technologies ( AKAM ) shares slumped nearly 11%, the steepest decline on the S&P 500. The cloud computing company's first-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street's estimates late Thursday, dragged down by weakness in content delivery solutions. The company offered a downbeat outlook for the ongoing three-month period.

Moderna ( MRNA ) saw the biggest drop on the Nasdaq and among the steepest on the S&P 500 intraday Friday, down 4.1%, after the drugmaker said the Food and Drug Administration has pushed back its pending review of the company's respiratory syncytial virus vaccine to the end of the month due to "administrative constraints."

Gen Digital ( GEN ) shares jumped 15%, the top gainer on the S&P 500. The company logged better-than-projected results for its fiscal fourth quarter on Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 1% to $78.46 per barrel intraday.

Gold was up 1.5% at $2,374.70 per troy ounce, while silver rose 0.5% to $28.52 per ounce.