Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.08%
U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Telecoms and Utilities sectors led shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.08% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.00%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.17%.
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side for social media buttons.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 0.85% or 0.86 points to trade at 101.57 at the close. Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 0.69% or 0.87 points to end at 126.09 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was up 0.60% or 0.33 points to 55.35 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which fell 0.71% or 0.39 points to trade at 54.83 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 0.38% or 0.85 points to end at 219.97 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) was down 0.34% or 0.24 points to 69.89.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which rose 2.36% to 13.42, General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) which was up 1.45% to settle at 53.19 and Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM) which gained 1.42% to close at 20.76.
The worst performers were American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was down 4.15% to 28.44 in late trade, Foot Locker Inc (NYSE:FL) which lost 3.42% to settle at 39.49 and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) which was down 2.39% to 25.73 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Iterum Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:ITRM) which rose 95.47% to 4.75, Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:PT) which was up 66.41% to settle at 2.13 and Aqua Metals Inc (NASDAQ:AQMS) which gained 59.62% to close at 0.83.
The worst performers were Melinta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MLNT) which was down 58.39% to 0.620 in late trade, Microbot Medical Inc (NASDAQ:MBOT) which lost 20.71% to settle at 11.1000 and IGM Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:IGMS) which was down 17.37% to 40.91 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1570 to 1215 and 116 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1678 fell and 959 advanced, while 89 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) rose to all time highs; rising 0.85% or 0.86 to 101.57. Shares in Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) rose to all time highs; gaining 0.69% or 0.87 to 126.09. Shares in Melinta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MLNT) fell to all time lows; losing 58.39% or 0.870 to 0.620.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.17% to 13.43.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.08% or 1.25 to $1515.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $61.70 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.34% or 0.23 to trade at $68.15 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.72% to 1.1176, while USD/JPY fell 0.18% to 109.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.50% at 96.632.
See also:
The U.S. dollar came off highs last week and the Chinese yuan strengthened on Friday morning in Asia.
Optimism has helped shore up stock and currency markets over the past couple of weeks since China and the U.S. agreed to a phase one trade deal, which could be signed in early January. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that there will be a signing and that the deal is “getting done”.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.03% to 97.50 by 8:50 PM ET (01:50 GMT).
The People’s Bank of China set the reference rate of the yuan at 6.9879. On Thursday, the PBOC raised the reference rate, the midpoint around which the currency is allowed to trade, by 0.0266 to 6.9801. The Thursday fix was the highest in about five months.
On Friday, the USD/JPY pair was down 0.16% to 109.45. The yen gained some ground against the greenback even as the government released worse-than-expected retail sales data Friday morning. Retail sales fell 2.1% in November from a year earlier. The actual performance was worse than the 1.7% decline expected by the market, according to Reuters.
The AUD/USD pair was up 0.08% to 06950. The pair was helped to new five-month highs by the optimism surrounding the trade deal between the U.S. and China.
The NZD/USD was down 0.09% to 1.4971.
The GBP/USD 0.03% to 1.2988, with the pound continuing to slide as the U.K. moves towards Brexit.
See also:
- EURJPY Price Breaks Out at $122 Price Level, Targeting the Supply Level of $123 (CryptoVibes)
- Euro to US Dollar Exchange Rate May be Set to End 2019 on a Stronger Note (EERN)
- Pound Sterling to Euro Exchange Rate 2020 Outlook Not Feeling the Festive Spirit (Future Currency Forecast)
The most unusual correlation play of the year continued on Friday, with gold notching a two-month high in $1,500 territory while U.S. stock prices rose to new peaks.
Analysts think gold is having a late rally because of investors seeking the yellow metal as a hedge to the overflowing risks on Wall Street, where stocks have been hitting one record high after another. Bullion and gold futures have tacked on as much as $50 an ounce over the past three weeks to reclaim the bullish $1,500 perch and progress from there, despite no appreciable change in fundamentals.
In Friday’s session, Wall Street’s leading stock indexes touched record highs in early trade as strong Chinese industrial profits data bolstered hopes that Beijing might be ready to sign a trade deal with the United States soon.
Wall Street has had one of its biggest and most prolonged bull runs this year on optimism over the imminent China deal, as well as runaway jobs growth and other strong U.S. economic data.
Spot gold is up nearly 18% for 2019, while gold futures have risen almost 16%.
Gold futures for February delivery on New York’s COMEX settled up $3.70, or 0.2%, at $1,518.10 per ounce. It earlier hit a two-month high of $1,519.85.
Spot gold, which tracks live trades in bullion, was down 8 cents, or 0.01%, at $1,511.22 by 3:25 PM ET (20:25 GMT), after a 7-week high of $1,515.39 earlier.
Wall Street has had one of its biggest and most prolonged bull runs this year on optimism over the imminent China deal, as well as runaway jobs growth and other strong U.S. economic data.
Spot gold is up nearly 18% for 2019, while gold futures have risen almost 16%.
See also:
The sparse trading volumes for the holidays seem to be working well for oil bulls who found little resistance pushing prices to 3-½ month highs on Thursday on industry data suggesting a steep crude inventory drop last week.
Talk that China was staying in close touch with the United States as they continued to work through their purported phase one trade deal also bolstered crude prices as U.S. markets reopened after the Christmas break.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, settled up 57 cents, or nearly 1%, at $61.68 per barrel. WTI earlier hit $61.83, its highest level since mid-September.
Brent, the global oil benchmark, settled up 72 cents, or 1%, at $67.92. It earlier hit a 3-½ month high of $67.94.
Crude oil prices spiked as traders reacted belatedly to a late Tuesday report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that showed a drawdown of 7.9 million barrels in U,S, crude stockpiles for the week ended Dec. 20, versus the 1.8-million-barrel decline forecast by analysts.
The API data suggests that refiners turned out more gasoline and other fuel products last week in anticipation of higher road travel and package deliveries for the holiday season. The API, however, is only an industry group and its data will have to be affirmed by official numbers due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Friday.
Oil prices also rose as stocks on Wall Street hit record highs on Thursday after China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told a media briefing that Beijing was in close touch with the United States on a tentative phase one trade deal between the two countries.
Wall Street, a proxy for oil market sentiment, has had one of its biggest and most prolonged bull runs this year on optimism over the imminent China deal as well as runaway jobs growth and other strong U.S. economic data.
See also:
- Oil Ends up 4th Week in a Row; Looks Ripe for Correction
- Oil prices reach three-month highs after strong online shopping by U.S. consumers
Natural Gas (ETF Daily News)
- Natural gas retreats to below $2.20 per MMBtu
- A triple-digit withdrawal, but a warm holiday across the US
- Only short covering can lift the price with inventories at the current level
The Christmas holiday on Wednesday caused a one-day delay in the release of the latest natural gas inventory data from the Energy Information Administration. The was not a white Christmas in the US on December 25 as the temperatures in Chicago reached almost 60 degrees. New York and Boston were above freezing, so the demand for heating in some of the most populated cold-weather locations was below average.
On Christmas Eve, the price of nearby January natural gas futures on the NYMEX settled at $2.172 per MMBtu. While the price of the energy commodity remained above the December 9 low at $2.158, the settlement price was the lowest yet.
The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) is the non-leveraged ETF product that tracks the price action in the NYMEX futures market.
Natural gas retreats to below $2.20 per MMBtu
On Friday, December 27, as the nearby January futures contract was rolling to February, natural gas fell to a marginally lower low at $2.156 per MMBtu.
The daily chart shows the weak price action at the end of last week. Natural gas fell to a lower low after the release of the latest EIA data pushing price momentum and relative strength indicators into oversold territory. The total number of open long and short positions dropped from 1.3156 million contracts on December to 1.270 million on December 26 as the January futures rolled to February. The low in the now active month February contract was at $2.167, which was also a new low on December 27.
A triple-digit withdrawal, but a warm holiday across the US
I had expected an over 100 billion cubic feet decline in natural gas inventories as of December 20. Estimize, a crowdsourcing website, had projected that stockpiles would drop by around 118 bcf. Meanwhile, the withdrawal was more than expected.
(Source: EIA)
The EIA told the natural gas market that the amount in storage fell by 161 bcf. Total stocks stood at 3.250 trillion cubic feet, 19% above last year’s level, but 2.1% below the five-year average for this time of the year. Even though the withdrawal was above the level the market expected, the price moved lower in the aftermath of the data.
(Source: CQG)
The ten-minute chart shows that natural gas spiked to a high of just over $2.24 on the February contract, and then fell to under $2.19 per MMBtu. The price action was a continuation of the bearish trend in the energy commodity.
Only short covering can lift the price with inventories at the current level
With stocks 19% above the level last year at this time, the only hope for a recovery rally could be a period of short covering, which does not seem likely. The weather forecasts for Chicago, New York, and Boston for the coming week are for temperatures at or above the freezing level, which limits the upside potential for the price of natural gas. In the February futures, the island reversal trading pattern stands at $2.781 to $2.786 from early November, which has faded in the market’s rearview mirror.
For the short-term, unless we see a sudden return of colder than average temperatures, the bearish trend is likely to continue.
.
