Stocks were little changed on Friday after a strong week, as investors digested the latest news on global trade and inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3%.

Stocks were on track to end the week in the green, as sentiment improved after investors gained more certainty about President Donald Trump's tariff plans, while fresh inflation data turned out to be more constructive than previously expected. Traders also shrugged off data released Friday that showed a 0.9% drop in retail sales for January, worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline.

This week, the S&P 500 and Dow are on track to gain 1.6% and 0.7%, respectively. The Nasdaq is up 2.5% this week.

Much of this week's gains came on Thursday after Trump signed a memorandum on a plan to impose levies on goods from countries that impose duties on U.S. products, rather than imposing outright tariffs.

Sentiment appeared to ease after January's producer price index, as well as the consumer price index report released earlier this week, showed lower readings for the personal consumption expenditures price index. The PCE price index, due later this month, is the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation.

"It doesn't look like the economy and inflation are accelerating out of control, which is putting downward pressure on interest rates," said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. He said the recent decline in the 10-year Treasury yield "is improving coverage, but it's also raising asset prices on the equity side because of that correlation dynamic."

The 10-year Treasury yield continued to move lower on Friday, recently dropping more than 5 basis points to 4.472%.(Newsmaker23)

Source: CNBC