The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that U.S. stocks closed little changed on Thursday as news of hotter-than-expected inflation and signs of labour market strength dampened hopes for early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, but a fall in Treasury yields kept declines in check. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that Toronto moved lower, underperforming Wall Street mostly because of its heavy weighting in financial shares, which were under pressure on both sides of the border ahead of the kickoff of U.S. bank earnings season on Friday. After ending 2023 with a strong rally, stocks have struggled to find upward momentum, with the S&P 500 up only 0.21 per cent on the year, as mixed economic data and Fed officials' comments have led investors to scale back expectations for the timing and size of any rate cuts from the U.S. central bank this year. Microsoft briefly overtook Apple as the world's most valuable company over concerns about iPhone demand. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 71.02 at 20,918.40. Financials lost 0.9 per cent, but among stocks, Aritzia gained nearly 21 per cent after the women's fashion chain reported third-quarter results that beat analysts' estimates.