NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are hanging near their all-time high on Friday as they head for the close of a second straight winning week.

The S&P 500 was virtually flat in midday trading, a day after setting a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 48 points, or 0.1%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was basically unchanged.

Helping to keep the stock market calm was a relatively steady bond market, which has been driving much of the action on Wall Street lately. When worries about inflation and the U.S. government’s swelling debt have been on the rise, Treasury yields have climbed and helped knock down stock prices. When concerns ebb, such as after last week’s encouraging update on inflation, yields have eased and helped stocks rise.

A mostly encouraging start to the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies has also helped prop up the stock market. Even if higher Treasury yields are pushing downward on stock prices, companies can make up for it by delivering bigger profits.

“If 2024 was the year of the election, 2025 is the year of earnings,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Earnings have been fundamentally improving, but how long can that last and how much can they rise?”

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Texas Instruments, CSX Sank

Texas Instruments fell 6.2% despite reporting profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. Showing how much pressure is on companies to keep growing, analysts focused on discouraging signals of how much profit the company is making from each $1 of revenue.

CSX sank 2.8% even though the railroad delivered a profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts’ expectations. Its revenue for the last three months of 2024 just missed analysts’ forecasts as it dealt with the effects of hurricanes.

On the winning side of Wall Street were Novo Nordisk’s U.S.-listed shares, which jumped 7.6%. The Danish company reported results from a clinical trial of a treatment for people who are overweight or obese, which could mean bigger profits in the future.

NextEra Energy climbed 5.2% after the owner of the Florida Power & Light utility reported profit for the latest quarter that was slightly above expectations. CEO John Ketchum said his company is benefiting from increased demand for electricity and “we will be disappointed if we are not able to deliver financial results at or near the top of our adjusted earnings per share expectations ranges in each year through 20277, while maintaining our strong balance sheet and credit ratings.”

Verizon Communications rose 1.2%. It delivered results for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations, benefiting in part from price increases imposed in recent quarters, and unveiled a strategy to help businesses use artificial intelligence.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.61% from 4.65% late Thursday. Other yields also pulled lower following a couple reports on the U.S. economy that came in worse than expected.

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US Business Activity Is Weaker Than Expected

One said sentiment among U.S. consumers is weaker than economists had forecast and fell in January for the first time in six months. The drops were widespread, carrying across incomes, wealth and age groups, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan.

A separate preliminary report suggested U.S. business activity is also weaker than expected, with its growth slowing. A third, potentially more encouraging report said sales of previously occupied homes were slightly stronger last month than expected. That capped the weakest year for such sales since 1995.

Traders don’t expect the weak data to push the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week. They’re virtually certain it will hold steady, according to data from CME Group.

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If they’re correct, it would be the first meeting since September where the Fed hasn’t lowered the federal funds rate to take pressure off the U.S. economy. Lower rates can goose prices for investments, but they can also give inflation more fuel. And worries have been rising about stubborn inflation, as well as the effects of potential tariffs and other policies championed by President Donald Trump.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged down by 0.1% after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to about 0.5% from 0.25%, as widely expected. It is the highest level for the rate since 2008, as the Bank of Japan shifts out of a long spell of extreme low interest rates meant to spur more borrowing and spending.

Stocks jumped 1.9% in Hong Kong and 0.7% in Shanghai for some of the bigger moves in global markets.