Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.44%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Goods and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.44%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.05%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.66%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which rose 5.47% or 4.99 points to trade at 96.27 at the close. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 4.44% or 8.73 points to end at 205.56 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 3.45% or 3.80 points to 113.84 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which fell 0.30% or 0.65 points to trade at 213.67 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) declined 0.09% or 0.04 points to end at 46.66 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was down 0.08% or 0.12 points to 142.37.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which rose 10.84% to 16.16, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which was up 9.87% to settle at 51.77 and Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) which gained 8.55% to close at 36.20.
The worst performers were Mohawk Industries Inc (NYSE:MHK) which was down 3.62% to 70.47 in late trade, Synopsys Inc (NASDAQ:SNPS) which lost 3.20% to settle at 198.01 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was down 3.09% to 620.86 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc (NASDAQ:WIMI) which rose 280.99% to 14.63, Tarena Intl Adr (NASDAQ:TEDU) which was up 44.10% to settle at 2.320 and Wah Fu Education Group Ltd (NASDAQ:WAFU) which gained 43.60% to close at 7.180.
The worst performers were Golden Bull Ltd (NASDAQ:DNJR) which was down 24.32% to 1.8200 in late trade, Centogene B V (NASDAQ:CNTG) which lost 22.09% to settle at 13.30 and Nuzee Inc (NASDAQ:NUZE) which was down 18.38% to 14.61 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2161 to 704 and 61 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1656 rose and 1039 declined, while 68 ended unchanged.
Shares in WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc (NASDAQ:WIMI) rose to all time highs; rising 280.99% or 10.79 to 14.63.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.73% to 27.29 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.12% or 2.25 to $1801.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.37% or 0.94 to hit $40.56 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 2.17% or 0.92 to trade at $43.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.17% to 1.1300, while USD/JPY fell 0.26% to 106.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 96.625.
The dollar pushed higher in early European trade Friday, helped by its safe haven status as coronavirus cases continued to surge in the United States and unemployment data pointed to a slow recovery in the labor market.
At 3:15 AM ET (0715 GMT), the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was up 0.3% at 96.915. GBP/USD was down 0.2% at 1.2580, while USD/JPY was down 0.3% at 106.84.
The number of coronavirus cases in the U.S., the world’s economic engine, continues to grow, with more than 60,000 new Covid-19 infections reported on Thursday.
With populous states like California, Florida and Texas recently breaking records, and having to restart some social distancing measures, hopes are fading for an aggressive economic revival.
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits dropped more than expected last week, data showed Thursday, but the figure remained above one million for the 16th straight week. Continuing claims also remained above 18 million, suggesting the labor market would take years to recover from the pandemic.
However, while the dollar gained against the euro Friday–EUR/USD was down 0.2% at 1.1263–it’s still a little lower against the single currency year to date. And further losses look likely. Analysts at Danske Bank said in a research note:
“Recent virus problems in the U.S. present a material risk to the U.S. recovery in the coming months, whereas the euro area service sector recovery is set to continue barring any second virus waves during the European holiday season.”
Danske Bank calls for EUR/USD to reach 1.15 on a one-three month time frame.
Adding to the sense of a European recovery, French industrial production increased sharply in May, up 19.6%, as lockdowns were eased and factories reopened.
Attention will now turn to the meeting of the EU leaders next week, to see if there can be agreement allowing the proposed 750 billion euro recovery fund to be distributed to the economies hit hardest by Covid-19 in the region, although also of interest with be Fitch’s review of its credit rating for Italy. Danske Bank said:
“The question is whether Fitch decides to be tough and downgrade Italy. We expect that it will remain on hold given that the ECB and EU are showing strong support for Italy through QE and the expected recovery fund.”
Elsewhere, the risk-linked Antipodean currencies gave up their gains from the previous day, with the AUD/USD pair down 0.5% to 0.6932 and the NZD/USD pair falling 0.12% to 0.6555, while the USD/CNY pair gained 0.3% to 7.0115.
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Gold prices fell a notch Friday but that didn’t stop the yellow metal from cruising to a fifth straight weekly gain, boosted by U.S. stimulus measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and surging new global infections.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery on Comex settled down $1.90, or 0.1%, at $1,801.90 per ounce. The contract hit $1,829.80 on Wednesday, its highest since September 2011, when it scaled to a record $1,911.60. 1,787.60
Spot gold was down $3.72, or 0.2%, at $1,799.83 by 3:45 PM ET (19:45 GMT). The real-time indicator of bullion prices scaled $1,809.22 earlier on Thursday, a peak since September 2011, when it hit a record high of $1,920.85.
For the week, August gold rose 0.8% while bullion gained 1.4%. Ed Moya, analyst at New York’s OANDA, said:
“Gold’s short-term outlook remains very bullish as tensions will likely increase next week between the world’s two largest economies, investors brace for large layoff announcements as banks kick off earnings season, and the COVID-19 spread in US and Latin America still do not show any signs of plateauing.”
Record high daily U.S. coronavirus infections have cast doubts over the pace of economic reopenings from lockdowns, as well as the resumption of school in the fall.
Latin America and the Caribbean have become “a hot spot” for the COVID-19 pandemic, with several countries now having one of the highest per capita infection rates and absolute number of cases in the world, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. A 9.1% contraction in GDP was expected this year in the region, which would be the “largest in a century,” said a video and briefing report by the U.N. chief.
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The global energy agency that rarely helps the positive case in oil has given a friendly boost to those long crude, just as the week comes to an end.
Crude prices jumped more than 2% on Friday after the International Energy Agency bumped up its 2020 forecast for global oil demand, lifting a market that took its worst hammering in six weeks in the previous session.
The IEA’s outlook on oil has typically been dour over the past few years, putting it at odds with the Saudi-dominated OPEC – or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – whose members are determined to keep crude prices supported under any condition.
The Paris-based IEA raised its demand forecast to 92.1 million barrels per day, up 400,000 bpd from its outlook last month, citing a smaller-than-expected second-quarter decline.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude futures, settled up 93 cents, or 2.3%, at $40.55 per barrel.
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, settled up 89 cents, or 2.1%, at $43.24.
For the week, WTI rose 0.7% while Brent rose 1%.
Aiding the IEA’s outlook on crude was a slight weekly drop in the U.S. oil rig count and positive news on Covid-19 vaccine development.
The weekly survey of rigs actively-drilling for oil in the United States fell by four to 181, indicating that crude production was still somewhat under control despite recent trends indicating higher output.
On the vaccine front, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) released data on Friday showing its antiviral drug, remdesivir, cut the risk of death for severely sick coronavirus patients by 62% compared with standard care alone, sending its shares up more than 2%.
Biontech also delivered positive news in the race of a vaccine, with CEO Ugur Sahin reportedly claiming the company could have a treatment ready for approval by December, according to The Wall Street Journal
Yet, a surge in new coronavirus cases in the United States tempered expectations for a fast recovery in fuel consumption. Record high U.S. infection numbers in a day cast also doubts over the pace of economic reopenings from lockdowns, as well as the resumption of school in the fall season.
Ed Moya, analyst at New York’s OANDA, said:
“After the IEA improved their oil demand forecast for the rest of the year, WTI crude remains anchored below the $41 level and will likely struggle for any major moves until after Tuesday’s OPEC+ meeting.”
OPEC+ is the wider alliance of oil exporting group led by Saudi Arabia and assisted by key ally Russia.
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Natural Gas (Hellenic Shipping News)
US natural gas in storage rose 56 Bcf in the week ended July 3, according to Energy Information Administration data released July 9, as electric generation boosted demand and the Henry Hub prompt-month contract continues to inch closer to the $2/MMBtu mark.
The estimated 56 Bcf build, to total underground gas storage stocks of 3.133 Tcf, was slightly above consensus expectations of an S&P Global Platts’ survey of analysts, which called for a 55 Bcf build. Responses to the survey ranged from an injection of 42 Bcf to one of 65 Bcf.
The injection was smaller than the 83 Bcf build reported during the corresponding week in 2019 and the five-year average increase of 68 Bcf, according to EIA data.
Summer heat intensified across the US Midwest and Southeast in the week that ended July 3, pushing estimated nationwide power burn to a year-to-date high of 39.9 Bcf/d, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.
Meanwhile, after bottoming out at 3.8 Bcf/d two weeks ago, LNG feedgas deliveries held above 4 Bcf/d for the second week in a row, helping trim the 18% inventory surplus that will weigh on Henry Hub prices through the end of injection season in October.
The NYMEX Henry Hub balance of summer strip has risen roughly 2 cents to $1.90/MMBtu, shedding half the earlier session gains prior to the storage report release. Spreads from summer to winter have narrowed about 10 cents over the last week to 82 cents from 92 cents, but remain strong.
Storage volumes now stand 685 Bcf, or 28%, above the year-ago level of 2.448 Tcf and 454 Bcf, or 17%, above the five-year average of 2.679 Tcf.
Platts Analytics’ supply and demand model currently expects a 52 Bcf injection for the week ending July 10, which would be 11 Bcf below the five-year average, as supply-and-demand fundamentals draw tighter.
Gas-fired power demand continues to ratchet up deeper into the US cooling season. Year-to-date power burn has been impressive from the perspective of electricity demand, which was relatively lackluster because of a mild winter, followed immediately by the suppressive impact of coronavirus and efforts to mitigate its spread.
However, corresponding pressure to gas prices has provided gas-fired generation the ability to increase market share and dominate the supply stack, displacing an enormous amount of coal-fired generation, according to Platts Analytics.
Through June, electricity demand across the continental US averaged 4% lower year on year, while gas-fired generation managed to increase 7% in the same period. Gas prices at Henry Hub averaged 90 cents/MMBtu lower through the first half of 2020, which facilitated nearly 30% year-on-year declines in coal-fired generation.
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