Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.42%
U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Basic Materials 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 added 0.42% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.80%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 3.21% or 1.02 points to trade at 32.77 at the close. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.37% or 2.01 points to end at 86.96 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) was up 2.31% or 2.40 points to 106.40 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 3.88% or 6.01 points to trade at 148.98 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 2.27% or 1.63 points to end at 70.32 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 2.11% or 0.77 points to 35.71.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ:URBN) which rose 7.77% to 17.62, Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) which was up 7.22% to settle at 37.87 and Helmerich & Payne Inc (NYSE:HP) which gained 5.69% to close at 53.27.
The worst performers were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 6.46% to 149.60 in late trade, KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) which lost 6.38% to settle at 101.98 and Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) which was down 5.88% to 78.32 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Delcath Systems Inc (NASDAQ:DCTH) which rose 48.10% to 0.0625, Amedica Corp (NASDAQ:AMDA) which was up 23.19% to settle at 0.340 and ATA Inc (NASDAQ:ATAI) which gained 25.06% to close at 4.890.
The worst performers were XBiotech Inc (NASDAQ:XBIT) which was down 66.03% to 3.20 in late trade, Ability Inc (NASDAQ:ABIL) which lost 25.18% to settle at 1.05 and Hunter Maritime Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:HUNT) which was down 19.94% to 7.99 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1962 to 1279 and 20 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1318 rose and 1222 declined, while 97 ended unchanged.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.33% to 10.60.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.75% or 9.64 to $1269.86 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.37% or 0.17 to hit $45.81 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.27 to trade at $48.13 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.13% to 1.1195, while USD/JPY rose 0.35% to 110.28.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.31% at 97.25
See also Nasdaq loses more than 100 points as investors dump tech stocks and Top 5 things that moved markets this past week.
The dollar rose against a basket of currency on Friday, buoyed by a slump in sterling, which fell to its lowest level in April after the UK general election triggered renewed political uncertainty ahead of the start of Brexit negotiations.
GBP/USD pared some of its losses to trade above $1.27, down 1.68%, as investors hoped that UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement that she would form a governmentwith the support of the Democratic Unionist Party will spur a fresh Brexit strategy, potentially avoiding a ‘hard Brexit’.
Deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) insisted that his party is ready to face up to the “challenges of Brexit” while Arlene Foster, leader of the DUP, said that “no-one wants to see a ‘hard’ Brexit”.
Sterling fell to $1.2635, the lowest level since April 18, after the result of the general election sparked political uncertainty, as Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative party failed to secure a majority in parliament.
The dollar was the main beneficiary of the slump in sterling, as the greenback remained on track to close higher for the week ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.28% to 97.23.
EUR/GBP gained 0.76% to 0.8800 while EUR/USD bounced off session lows to $1.1199.
The single currency remained under pressure, after the European Central Bank on Thursday, scaled back its inflation expectations for the next two years while ECB president Mario Draghi suggested that interest rates were likely to remain at current levels for an extended period of time.
USD/JPY rose 0.48% to Y110.42, while USD/CAD fell by 0.46% to $1.3447.
See also Dollar gains as sterling falls on election shock (Reuters).
This week bullishness on gold surged and euro net longs reached a 6-year high..
Note: This data is for the week ending on Tuesday so the last three days (this week two because markets were closed Friday) of trading are not reflected.
Gold prices fell on Friday, despite renewed political uncertainty in the UK, after the general election resulted in a hung parliament, as UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative party failed to secure a majority in parliament.
Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $8.23 or 0.64%, to $1,271.27 a troy ounce.
Gold failed to capitalize on renewed geopolitical uncertainty, as the UK general election resulted in a hung parliament, sparking uncertainty as to whether Brexit talks would be delayed.
With the start of Brexit talks less than two weeks away, investors fear that Theresa May’s faces a difficult start to Brexit negotiations in the wake of the general election result, as her Conservative party lost the majority in parliament it held prior to the election.
Theresa May said on Friday Brexit talks would begin on 19 June as planned, but officials in Brussels remained doubtful.
Donald Tusk, the European council president tweeted “We don’t know when Brexit talks start”.
The UK general election result caught investors off guard, as many had expected Theresa May to increase her majority in parliament, strengthening her position ahead of crucial Brexit talks.
The dollar surged higher, as sterling fell to a nearly two-month low, decreasing demand for the precious metal, which remains on track to post is first weekly loss in five weeks.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.28% to 97.23.
Gold is expected to come under pressure, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next week. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hike its benchmark rate at its June 13-14 meeting.
Gold is sensitive to moves higher in both bond yields and the U.S. dollar – A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency while a rise in U.S. rates, lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
In other precious metals, silver futures fell by 1.33% to $17.183 a troy ounce while platinum futures gained 0.33% to trade at $941.20.
Copper added 1.44% to $2.647, while natural gas rose 0.30% to 3.040.
Crude futures settled higher on Friday, after a Nigerian oil pipeline leak offset fears that excess Nigerian crude would add to the uptick in global production but gains were limited as investors braced for a rise in Libyan output while the number of active U.S. drilling rigs rose.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for July delivery rose 19 cents to settle at $45.83 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 30 cents to trade at $48.16 a barrel.
Oil prices rose as the Shell Development Company of Nigeria declared force majeure on Nigerian Bonny light crude oil after someone drilled a hole into the Trans Niger Pipeline, causing a leak but gains were offset by expectations that Libya’s Sharara oilfield would return to normal production.
National Oil Corp said on Friday, Libya’s 270,000-bpd Sharara oilfield has reopened after a workers’ protest and should return to normal production within three days.
The expected uptick in Libyan oil production, added to earlier concerns of a rise in global output as Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday, lifted force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Forcados crude oil, bringing all of the West African country’s oil exports fully online for the first time in 16 months.
Meanwhile in the U.S., oilfield services firm Barker Hughes reported its weekly U.S. rig count rose by 8 to 741.
Crude futures have struggled to pare losses sustained earlier in the week, after U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly swelled while tensions in the Middle East weighed on sentiment.
The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday said inventories of U.S. crude rose by roughly 3.3m barrels in the week ended May 26, confounding expectations of draw of around 3.5m barrels.
Meanwhile, demand for refined products fell, as stockpiles of gasoline, one of the products crude is refined into, rose back above 2016 levels and well above their five-year average.
Natural Gas (Thursday Report)
U.S. natural gas futures edged lower on Thursday, after data showed that natural gas supplies in storage in the U.S. rose more than expected last week.
U.S. natural gas for July shed 2.5 cents, or around 0.8%, to $2.995 per million British thermal units by 10:35AM ET (1435GMT). Futures were at around $3.010 prior to the release of the supply data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 106 billion cubic feet in the week ended June 2, above forecasts for a build of 98 billion.
That compared with a gain of 81 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, an increase of 65 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 94 billion cubic feet.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.631 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 11.2% lower than levels at this time a year ago but 9.0% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Natural gas futures settled lower for seventh time in the past eight sessions on Wednesday after falling to its lowest since March 20 at $2.935 at the start of the week.
Prices of the commodity have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on summer heating demand.
Gas use typically hits a seasonal low with spring’s mild temperatures, before warmer weather increases demand for gas-fired electricity generation to power air conditioning.
Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for heating.