Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.36%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Telecoms and Consumer Goods sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.36% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.39%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.34%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 1.21% or 0.36 points to trade at 30.07 at the close. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) added 0.98% or 0.41 points to end at 41.52 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) was up 0.94% or 0.66 points to 70.98 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which fell 0.56% or 0.86 points to trade at 152.68 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 0.41% or 0.39 points to end at 95.79 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was down 0.36% or 0.77 points to 211.54.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which rose 2.74% to 30.59, Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) which was up 2.68% to settle at 53.25 and The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which gained 2.56% to close at 11.63.
The worst performers were Concho Resources Inc (NYSE:CXO) which was down 3.04% to 134.18 in late trade, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which lost 2.98% to settle at 16.28 and Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was down 2.37% to 25.56 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDXG) which rose 110.37% to 0.2819, Industrial Services of America Inc (NASDAQ:IDSA) which was up 75.00% to settle at 2.800 and PhotoMedex Inc (NASDAQ:PHMD) which gained 46.15% to close at 2.4700.
The worst performers were Interlink Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:LINK) which was down 18.11% to 7.78 in late trade, Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ:GLBS) which lost 13.56% to settle at 3.5700 and Airgain Inc (NASDAQ:AIRG) which was down 13.51% to 23.31 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1855 to 1188 and 100 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1562 rose and 851 declined, while 189 ended unchanged.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.72% to 12.34 a new 1-month low.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.53% or 6.30 to $1183.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 4.11% or 1.97 to hit $45.99 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 3.90% or 1.91 to trade at $47.09 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.31% to 1.0587, while USD/JPY fell 0.19% to 113.14.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 101.48.
Read additional news from Reuters at Investing.com.
(From Reuters) – The dollar slid against major rivals on Friday as investors took advantage of a minor pullback in U.S. bond yields from recent highs and a holiday-shortened week to consolidate gains that had propelled the currency to a nearly 14-year peak.
Expectations of higher U.S. inflation and interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have driven the greenback to a more than 6 percent gain in the last two months, its strongest showing over a similar period since early 2015.
Most currency players expect the gains to continue. But the combination of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the processing of corporate flows before the month-end and perceived risks looming for markets in the first half of December led some to cash in gains now. According to said Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in New York:
“The latest consolidation has many investors wondering if it’s time to sell dollars. While there is no question that the dollar is getting ahead of reality and as tempting as it may be to pick a top, the latest pullback is small which means the better trade should be buying the dollar’s dips until Fed Chair Janet Yellen tells us otherwise.”
In afternoon trading on Friday, U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were up slightly from the previous session at 2.359 percent, but off from Thursday’s 16-month high of 2.417 percent (US10YT=RR). U.S. two-year yields (US2YT=RR) slipped from a more than six-year high hit earlier in the session and were last at 1.130 percent. The step-back in yields drove a modest selloff in the dollar.
In early afternoon trading, the dollar index fell 0.3 percent to 101.42 (DXY) after hitting an almost 14-month peak the previous session. The index posted its largest one-day fall since early November.
After hitting an 8-month high of 113.90 yen earlier, the dollar was down 0.2 percent against the yen at 113.11 yen, although it still ended the week with a 2 percent gain.
The euro rose 0.5 percent to $1.0601 after dropping to $1.0518 on Thursday, its lowest since March 2015.
Emerging market equities and currencies, meanwhile, have been hit hard by the specter of a possible Fed rate hike and potential U.S. trade protectionism under President-elect Donald Trump. The Turkish lira slumped to a record low even after the country’s central bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years on Thursday. The lira was hurt as European Union lawmakers called for a temporary halt to EU membership talks with Ankara.
This week speculators remained extremely bullish on gold (although weakening from a week ago) and oil, very bearish on the pound and euro, while still holding a weakening bullish view of the yen.
Note: This data is for the week ending on Tuesday so the last three days of trading are not reflected. There were was very little change in investor sentiment this week.
Gold (Thursday Report)
Gold fell through the key psychological level of $1,200 on Wednesday, pressured lower by the strong dollar.
The precious metal touched lows of US$1,179.75, a level not seen since February 8.
Gold prices could now come under siege, which will likely see falls to as low as $1168.13 and beyond.
Gold, when priced in dollars, becomes more expensive to holders of other currencies when the dollar rises.
Prices of the yellow metal have also been hit by expectations for increased U.S. fiscal spending under Trump.
This could ultimately lead to an era of higher interest rates, which would lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as gold.
Meanwhile, silver was at $16.27 a troy ounce, while copper traded at $2.65 a pound.
U.S. crude fell nearly 4 percent on Friday, dragged down by uncertainty over whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will reach an output deal, after Saudi Arabia said it will not attend talks on Monday with non-OPEC producers to discuss supply cuts.
Brent crude futures settled at $47.24 a barrel, down $1.76 or 3.59 percent. U.S. crude futures settled down $1.90 a barrel at $46.06, a 3.96 percent decline. Prices continued to decline in post-settlement trading, dropping as low as $45.88 a barrel.
U.S. crude ended the week up 13 cents a barrel, after trading between $45.77 and $49.20 a barrel. Brent crude rose 20 cents during the week and traded in a range of $46.85 and $49.96 a barrel.
Overall activity on both contracts was thin after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and ahead of the weekend.
Top OPEC oil exporter Saudi Arabia has told the producer group it will not attend talks on Monday with non-OPEC producers to discuss limiting supply, OPEC sources said, as it wants to focus on having consensus within the organization first.
Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital in New York, said”
“I think Saudi’s announcement it would not to go to the meeting drove the initial sell-off. There has to be a substantial cut and it has to be something that the street will believe.”
Russia still plans to attend lower-tier talks on Nov. 28 in Vienna ahead of the OPEC ministerial meeting on Nov. 30, a Russian source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Reports that state oil giant Saudi Aramco would in January increase oil supplies to some Asian customers also cast a shadow on markets, traders said.
A decline in China’s October crude oil imports to their lowest on a daily basis since January added to the bearish tone.
But analysts said fundamentals were little changed – apart from concerns over the fate of next week’s deal.
Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB Bank in Oslo said prices could rebound if the Nov. 30 meeting succeeded in reaching a targeted production cap of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day (bpd), from the 33.64 million bpd the group pumped in October.
On Thursday, the oil minister of non-OPEC nation Azerbaijan said OPEC was also pushing oil producers outside the group to make big cuts in output.
Most analysts expect some form of cut, but it is uncertain whether that would be enough to prop up a market dogged by oversupply since 2014. U.S. investment bank Jefferies said, adding that recent output increases to record levels in many countries now required a deep cut to lift prices significantly:
“Oil market reaction will hinge on the credibility of the proposed action. The surge in OPEC output since August has shifted the market back into oversupply and re-balancing will be deferred until the second half of 2017 without a cut of at least 700,000 barrels per day.”
Natural Gas (Thursday Report)
No report this week.
