Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.17%
U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Telecoms and Financials sectors led shares higher while losses in the Technology, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.17% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.06%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.87%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 3.38% or 3.24 points to trade at 99.16 at the close. Meanwhile, The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 3.18% or 3.62 points to end at 117.36 and Raytheon Technologies Corp (NYSE:RTX) was up 2.27% or 1.36 points to 61.23 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 2.27% or 10.34 points to trade at 444.45 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 1.79% or 3.87 points to end at 212.48 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was down 1.27% or 2.18 points to 170.02.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 10.10% to 305.71, United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) which was up 7.86% to settle at 156.90 and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc (NYSE:HST) which gained 6.88% to close at 11.50.
The worst performers were Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which was down 10.94% to 355.66 in late trade, Fleetcor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) which lost 8.51% to settle at 240.61 and Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) which was down 6.10% to 131.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Conduent Inc (NASDAQ:CNDT) which rose 82.74% to 4.13, Addex Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ:ADXN) which was up 80.69% to settle at 21.00 and Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) which gained 56.66% to close at 25.77.
The worst performers were Everspin Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:MRAM) which was down 25.73% to 6.35 in late trade, Nova Lifestyle I (NASDAQ:NVFY) which lost 23.53% to settle at 1.820 and Aditx Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ADTX) which was down 23.03% to 5.85 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1910 to 1132 and 82 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1641 rose and 1133 declined, while 81 ended unchanged.
Shares in United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) rose to all time highs; up 7.86% or 11.43 to 156.90. Shares in Addex Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ:ADXN) rose to all time highs; rising 80.69% or 9.38 to 21.00.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.94% to 22.21 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for October delivery was down 1.08% or 22.25 to $2036.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.93% or 0.39 to hit $41.56 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.95% or 0.43 to trade at $44.66 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.73% to 1.1788, while USD/JPY rose 0.36% to 105.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures were up 0.67% at 93.390.
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The dollar was up on Friday morning in Asia, reversing some of its losses earlier in the week. But gains were capped by decreasing U.S. Treasury yields, ever-increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, and the stalemate in the U.S. Congress over the latest stimulus package.
The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies gained 0.08% to 92.840 by 10:07 AM ET (3:07 AM GMT).
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned that Republicans and Democrats are “still very far apart” on key issues” after concluding talks on Thursday. But he added that President Donald Trump is prepared to issue an executive order if the two sides fail to meet their end-of-the-week deadline.
But some investors are skeptical that the dollar will retain its gains, especially against the EUR and JPY, with hopes of a V-shaped U.S. recovery fading quickly. Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, told Reuters:
“I see further dollar weakness. Optimism for an economic recovery is not backed up by the data. Safe-havens are very high, but stocks are also high, which doesn’t make sense. The party has to end at some point.”
The USD/JPY pair inched up 0.01% to 105.56.
The AUD/USD pair fell 0.07% to 0.7228 and the NZD/USD pair was down 0.04% by 0.6683.
The USD/CNY pair gained 0.010% to 6.9592 and the GBP/USD pair was down 0.12% to 1.3131.
Meanwhile investors will be looking to the U.S. non-farm payrolls report, due later in the day, for further clues that the economic momentum is slowing.
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Gold posted its biggest daily decline in two months on Friday, falling 2%, as the dollar rebounded on a better-than-expected recovery in U.S. jobs in July. The shiny metal’s prices, however, stayed well above the $2,000 per ounce support, indicating that its setback might be temporary.
The 0.8% rise on the greenback, the most in a day since March and which elevated the Dollar Index back above the 93.5 level, was also unlikely to be sustained, said forex analysts. TD Securities said in a forex market note for the day:
“We think that USD shorts were covered ahead of this report. A better data print now leaves the USD bid as tenuous. We see attractive risk/reward to lean short [the dollar].”
The Labor Department said the United States added 1.8 million jobs in July, slowing from June’s 4.8-million jobs gain, as a new wave of coronavirus infections hampered the labor market recovery from the pandemic. Nearly 4.9 million Americans have already been infected by Covid-19 so far, with a death toll reaching above 160,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. A model by the University of Washington has predicted 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Oct. 1, casting doubts on economic recovery.
Ed Moya, an analyst at OANDA in New York, said:
“The economic recovery is likely to struggle from here on out and that should keep real yields near their record lows. The dollar rebound was needed and will likely be temporary. Treasuries were due for a pullback and this will likely be temporary, too.”
The front-month October gold futures contract on New York’s Comex settled down $40.40, or nearly 2%, at $2,018. On Thursday, October gold hit $2,070, record high for a benchmark gold futures contract on Comex.
In Friday’s trade, Comex’s December gold contract, which has attracted even more volume and open interest than October futures, settled down $41.40, or 2%, at $2,028. On Thursday, December gold surged to $2,089.20, an all-time high for any gold futures contract on Comex.
Spot gold, which reflects metal available for immediate delivery, meanwhile, was down $28.36, or 1.4%, at $2,034.82 at 2:50 PM ET (18:50 GMT) on Friday, after hitting a record high of $2,075.14 in the previous session.
Notwithstanding Friday’s declines, gold prices were still up some 32% or more on the year. Silver showed a gain of more than 52%.
See also:
- Silver And Silver ETFs Have Another Epic Day (ETF Trends)
- Gold Continues to Rise, Reaches New Record High
- Gold Hits Record Above $2,080; Pauses for July U.S. Jobs
Oil prices settled almost 2% lower on Friday, falling for the second time in five days to a rebounding dollar and fears that global fuel demand will be crimped again by coronavirus-triggered lockdowns.
Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP (LON:NXGN) in Durham, North Carolina, said in his daily note, referring to the plethora of bearish factors against oil:
“In a normal world … I would think crude would be back in the 30s. But in the world we live in, with a tumbling USD, $2,000+ gold and GOBS of additional fiscal stimulus coming to keep the politicians in office, I think none of it matters to most people who trade oil,” he said, emphasizing the market’s disconnect from objective pricing.
U.S. crude’s benchmark U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 73 cents, or 1.7%, at $41.27 per barrel.
London’s Brent, the global barometer for crude, closed the New York session down 69 cents, or 1.5%, at $43.30. Bjornar Tonhaugen of Rystad Energy said of this week’s rise:
“Keeping the price levels would be unrealistic. Traders rushed to the task today to correct the gains, remembering the invisible enemy, COVID-19.”
Still, WTI rose 2.4% for the week and Brent showed a weekly gain of 2.5%, indicating that crude futures probably had more to lose.
The rise in Covid-19 infections remains the dominant issue for the fuel demand outlook. Cases in the United States are still rising in a number of states, while India recently reported a record daily jump in infections. More than 700,000 people have died in the worldwide pandemic.
Nearly 4.9 million Americans have been infected by Covid-19 so far, with a death toll reaching above 160,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. A model by the University of Washington has predicted 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Oct. 1, casting doubts on economic recovery.
Friday’s drop in oil prices came as the Labor Department said the United States added 1.8 million jobs in July, slowing from the 4.8-million jobs gain in June, as a new wave of coronavirus infections hampered labor market recovery.
The July jobs report, however, helped the dollar rebound from its free-fall mode and weigh on oil and other commodities. The Dollar Index, which pits the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was at 93.400 by 3:33 PM ET (20:33 GMT), up 0.7%, or its most in a day since March.
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The world’s consumption of natural gas is set to decline by 4 percent this year, but global demand will return to growth after the pandemic, thanks to low natural gas prices and stricter environmental policies, a new report showed on Thursday.
The Global Gas Report 2020 – published by the International Gas Union (IGU), research company BloombergNEF (BNEF), and Italian gas infrastructure firm Snam – says that the trend of increased natural gas demand due to environmental concerns, which was already underway before the pandemic, will continue after COVID-19 is under control.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) also sees global natural gas demand dropping by 4 percent in 2020, which would be the largest demand shock for gas markets in recorded history, with consumption of natural gas expected to drop by twice the amount it did after the 2008 financial crisis.
The cost-competitiveness of natural gas and the increased access to gas in developing countries are set to be the key drivers of higher gas demand in the medium term, especially for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Global Gas Report 2020 found.
Global LNG imports could return to their 2019 . Ashish Sethia, global head of commodities at BNEF, said:
“The pandemic has created disruption in the global energy sector, but low gas prices will ultimately stimulate demand growth as the economy recovers. We have already seen unprecedented coal-to-gas switching in Europe, and clean air policies in major growth markets such as India and China will drive more gas adoption in the next few years.”
For the longer term, however, low-carbon gas technologies would be needed, but they will depend on significant investments and policy actions, the report said.
Jon Moore, CEO of BNEF, said:
“It is increasingly clear that the goals of the Paris Agreement cannot be met without a substantial scale-up of clean gas technologies – such as hydrogen. While the economics are challenging today, a joined-up policy approach could unleash the investment needed to bring costs down, develop scalable business models and drive adoption across the hard-to-abate sectors.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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