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 Utilities, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors led shares higher while losses in the Technology, Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.08%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.04%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.23%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were PfizerInc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 1.54% or 0.55 points to trade at 36.26 at the close. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.50% or 1.55 points to end at 104.78 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.48% or 3.35 points to 229.37 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 2.31% or 3.69 points to trade at 156.29 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) declined 1.86% or 2.99 points to end at 157.79 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 0.78% or 0.36 points to 45.56.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which rose 6.62% to 305.63, Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) which was up 4.51% to settle at 68.54 and Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM) which gained 3.58% to close at 15.20.
The worst performers were VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was down 11.08% to 74.64 in late trade, Under Armour Inc A (NYSE:UAA) which lost 5.70% to settle at 17.36 and Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) which was down 5.17% to 126.57 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were WPCS International Inc (NASDAQ:DCAR) which rose 23.58% to 2.830, Synchronoss Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SNCR) which was up 20.99% to settle at 9.05 and ReTo Eco-Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:RETO) which gained 18.84% to close at 8.580.
The worst performers were Apricus Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APRI) which was down 67.40% to 1.040 in late trade, Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) which lost 33.37% to settle at 11.4600 and Nano Dimension Ltd (NASDAQ:NNDM) which was down 31.55% to 2.30 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1783 to 1304 and 129 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1384 rose and 1139 declined, while 115 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nano Dimension Ltd (NASDAQ:NNDM) fell to all time lows; down 31.55% or 1.06 to 2.30.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.25% to 19.37.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.32% or 4.40 to $1350.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.46% or 0.28 to hit $61.62 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.53 to trade at $64.86 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.75% to 1.2410, while USD/JPY rose 0.10% to 106.23.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.63% at 89.03.
See also:
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Weekly ETF Gainers / Losers (Seeking Alpha)
Stocks stretch winning streak to 6 days despite turbulence (Yahoo! Finance)
The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies but is set to end the week sharply lower after suffering heavy losses against both yen and euro throughout the week.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.41% to 88.83.
The dollar rose from three-year lows as traders cheered bullish economic data which topped economists’ forecasts, adding to the narrative of a strengthening US economy.
The Commerce Department reported building permits rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.396 million units, while housing starts grew at a monthly pace of 9.7% to 1.326 million units.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index showed a preliminary reading of 99.9 in February, topping expectations for a reading of 95.4.
Yet the greenback remained on track to record weekly loss after sharp losses against both the yen and euro during the week amid diverging global monetary policy.
Mizuho bank earlier this week said the dollar’s weakness in the wake of recent upbeat economic data reinforced its view that “monetary policy divergence is raising the attractiveness of euro and yen assets to international investors.”
Yet the yen had a timid end to the week as Haruhiko Kuroda was reappointed Governor of the Bank of Japan. Over the past few months, Kuroda has attempted to quash investor expectations that the central bank is nearing a shift in stance on monetary policy from easing to tightening.
USD/JPY fell 0.03% to Y106.309, while EUR/USD fell 0.51% to $1.2440.
USD/CAD gained 0.45% to C$1.2545 as rising oil prices weighed on the pair, providing support to the loonie.
GBP/USD fell 0.50% to $1.4040.
A lot of bullishness decreased this week. Speculators became less bullish on the euro, the pound sterling, S&P 500, gold, and crude oil
Note: The data is for the week ending on Tuesday 13 February so the last three days of trading are not reflected.
Gold prices fell Friday but were set to clinch their biggest weekly win in nearly two years despite a rebound in the greenback from three-year lows.
Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $5.70, or 0.42%, to $1,349.70 a troy ounce.
In the wake of a rebound in the dollar, gold prices fell but remained well supported as traders continued to mull over the impact of rising inflation on the precious metal.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – A fall in the dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currency and thus, increases demand for the precious metal.
Some say that rising inflation, supporting expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes will weighed on the precious metal as it gets dumped for interest-bearing assets like bonds. Others, however, suggested that gold provides a hedge against inflation, so tends to garner attention in an inflationary environment.
Also supporting gold prices was an uptick in Far East demand as the Chinese New Year got underway which usually ushers in gift buying in the form of gold jewellery, which accounts for roughly 50% of total gold demand.
“Based on the local premiums to international gold prices, it appears that demand ahead of the Chinese New Year has been relatively strong,” Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said earlier this week in an email to clients.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 1.23% to $16.59 a troy ounce, while platinum futures gained 0.35% to $1,002.60 an ounce.
Copper rose 0.31% to $3.25, while natural gas fell 0.62% to $2.57. The fall in natural gas comes despite EIA data showing storage levels fell last week confounding expectations for a rise.
Crude oil prices settled higher shrugging off data showing the number of US oil rigs rose for the fourth straight week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for March delivery rose 34 cents to settle at $61.68 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent gained 37 cents to trade at $64.70 a barrel.
The number of oil rigs operating in the US jumped by seven to 798, the highest level since April 2, 2015, according to data from energy services firm Baker Hughes.
That added to investor fears that rising US oil output would offset major oil producers’ efforts – as part of the production-cut agreement – to rid the market of excess oil stockpiles.
The rise in US oil rigs comes just two days after data showed US producers continued to ramp up output.
The Energy Information Agency disclosed its weekly supply totals report showing U.S. crude output hit a record 10.27 million barrels per day. This keeps the US on track to meet the EIA’s recent estimate for domestic production to top 11 million barrels per day by year-end.
Also weighing on sentiment somewhat was a duo of reports earlier this week from OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) claiming that non-OPEC output, led by the US, was set to surge in the months ahead.
Non-OPEC production, led by the US, is likely to grow by more than demand in 2018, the International Energy Agency cited in a monthly report. The energy body also said that the underlying oil market fundaments appeared “less supportive for prices” so far this year.
The IEA report echoed some of the findings observed in the OPEC monthly report released Monday, showing the oil cartel revised upward its estimate for non-OPEC output to a total of 59.26 million bpd this year, 320,000 bpd higher than its previous forecast.
Natural Gas (Thursday Report)
Natural gas futures were higher on Thursday, finding support after data showed that domestic supplies in storage fell more than forecast last week.
Front-month U.S. natural gas futures gained 1.7 cents, or around 0.6%, to $2.603 per million British thermal units (btu) by 10:45AM ET (1545GMT). Futures were at around $2.593 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. fell by 194 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended Feb. 9, above forecasts for a withdrawal of 183 bcf.
That compared with a decline of 119 bcf in the preceding week, a fall of 114 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 154 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 1.884 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 577 bcf, or around 23.4%, lower than levels at this time a year ago and 433 bcf, or roughly 18.6%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
It fell to its lowest since May 2016 at $2.530 earlier in the session amid speculation the end of the winter heating season will bring warmer temperatures throughout the U.S. and cut into demand for the fuel.
Market experts warned that futures are likely to remain vulnerable in the near-term as the coldest part of the winter has effectively passed and below-normal temperatures in April mean less than they do in January and February.
Spring usually sees the weakest demand for natural gas in the U.S, as the absence of extreme temperatures curbs demand for heating and air conditioning.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
