Equities seesawed to end flat in quiet summer trading Friday but were higher on the week. Bulls were pleased to see better buying extending from megacaps to the broader market, including small caps and large-cap cyclicals, especially banks and transports. Bears still see the market overbought on a technical basis.

On the day, the Dow industrial average and the S&P 500 were both flat, and the Nasdaq firmed 0.2 percent. US Treasury yields rose at the short end and declined at the long end. The dollar declined and oil prices rose. For the last five days, the Dow industrials outperformed with a gain of 2 percent while the S&P was up a modest 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq declined 0.4 percent.

For Friday, best performers included pharma, auto suppliers, utilities, and travel & tourism. On the downside, Facebook and big tech stocks gad a bad day. Other decliners included retail, rails, banks, machinery, and media.

Investors are looking to policy announcements next week from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank with both widely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points, but markets uncertain about the rate outlook after that.

Market Reflections track market reaction to the trading day's major events. Economic data, policymaker speeches, and company news are featured in this report as well as key indexes and financial instruments.

Understanding why markets respond as they do is fundamental for an investor. Market Reflections help explain how the day's events, news, and data impact the outlook for the economy and for market prices.