Stock market today: Wall Street drifts toward the close of its worst month since April

News Snapshot:

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting toward the close of its worst month since April following an economic report highlighting both encouraging and discouraging trends. The S&P 500 was basically flat early Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 120 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%. Treasury yields were holding relatively steady after a report said inflation decelerated a bit last month and behaved almost exactly as economists expected in an encouraging sign for the market. But the report also said that U.S. consumers cut back on their spending. That’s a potentially more dangerous signal when consumers...