US stocks steadied on Friday after an encouraging update on inflation helped calm a Wall Street that’s been wracked by worries about how artificial-intelligence technology may upend the business world.

The S&P 500 barely budged, a day after it had tumbled to one of its worst losses since Thanksgiving. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48 points, or 0.1 percent, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2 percent.

Stocks got some help from easing Treasury yields, which fell after a report showed inflation slowed last month by more than economists expected. US consumers paid prices for groceries, clothes and other costs of living that were 2.4 percent higher overall than a year earlier.

While that’s higher than anyone would like and above the 2 percent target set by the Federal Reserve, it wasn’t as bad as December’s 2.7 percent rate. And an underlying measure of inflation that economists see as a better predictor of where it may be heading slowed to the least-painful level in nearly five years. (AP)