Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.34%
U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Industrials, Healthcare and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.34%, while the S&P 500 index lost 2.19%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 2.28%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which fell 0.47% or 0.37 points to trade at 78.43 at the close. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) fell 1.08% or 0.48 points to end at 43.92 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was down 1.28% or 1.12 points to 86.69 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 3.47% or 5.14 points to trade at 142.99 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 3.16% or 1.59 points to end at 48.79 and Boeing Co(NYSE:BA) was down 3.06% or 10.28 points to 326.12.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Patterson Companies Inc (NASDAQ:PDCO) which rose 2.19% to 22.85, Ventas Inc (NYSE:VTR) which was up 0.76% to settle at 50.42 and Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) which gained 0.65% to close at 208.26.
The worst performers were Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which was down 22.93% to 64.02 in late trade, Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ:XLNX) which lost 6.22% to settle at 66.30 and Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV) which was down 4.61% to 93.19 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were LongFin Corp Class A (NASDAQ:LFIN) which rose 47.28% to 28.19, Neovasc Inc (NASDAQ:NVCN) which was up 46.17% to settle at 0.061 and Genprex Inc (NASDAQ:GNPX) which gained 33.74% to close at 5.4500.
The worst performers were NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ:NLNK) which was down 42.62% to 4.20 in late trade, MannKind Corp (NASDAQ:MNKD) which lost 24.79% to settle at 1.790 and Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which was down 22.93% to 64.02 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2381 to 684 and 119 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2001 fell and 563 advanced, while 89 ended unchanged.
Shares in Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) fell to 52-week lows; falling 22.93% or 19.05 to 64.02. Shares in NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ:NLNK) fell to all time lows; losing 42.62% or 3.12 to 4.20. Shares in Genprex Inc (NASDAQ:GNPX) rose to all time highs; rising 33.74% or 1.3750 to 5.4500. Shares in Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) fell to 52-week lows; falling 22.93% or 19.05 to 64.02.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 13.25% to 21.45.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.64% or 8.50 to $1337.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 2.57% or 1.63 to hit $61.91 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 1.95% or 1.33 to trade at $67.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.34% to 1.2283, while USD/JPY fell 0.45% to 106.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.37% at 89.79.
See also:
Canada stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 1.55%
Mexico stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/BMV IPC down 0.05%
The dollar languished at session lows against a basket of major currencies after a mixed jobs report showed the U.S. economy created fewer than expected jobs while wage growth steadied ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell slated for 1.30 p.m. ET.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.29% to 89.86, hovering above session lows of 89.82.
The U.S. economy created 103,000 in March, well below the 326,000 jobs created in February, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. That missed economists’ forecast for 193,000.
The jobless rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, missing economists’ forecasts for a 0.1% decline to 4%. Average hourly earnings grew 0.3% for February, in-line with expectations.
Despite elevated investor expectations for a second rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s upcoming June meeting, analysts cautioned the prospect of further tightening amid a lack of price pressures.
“The probability of a June rate hike remains elevated at 79% but without a meaningful uptick in price pressures, the FOMC will find it difficult to justify a second 2018 rate increase,” Stifel said.
The dollar was also weighed by increasing demand for safe-haven currencies after U.S.-China tensions grew as China warned it would retaliate with fresh measures to protect its interests after President Donald Trump threatened to impose an extra $100 billion in tariffs.
USD/JPY fell 0.28% to Y107.10.
Some analysts, however, remained positive on the greenback despite growing U.S.-China tensions on trade.
“We remain focused on the constructive technical backdrop for the dollar and war of words on the global trade front, both of which have us leaning short-term positive on the dollar,” TD Securities said
EUR/USD, meanwhile, rose 0.23% to $1.2269, while GBP/USD added 0.59% to $1.4085.
USD/CAD rose 0.11% C$1.2765.
Except for decreasing bullishness in gold, there were no major changes in speculative positions this week.
Note: The data is for the week ending on Tuesday 03 April so the last three days of trading are not reflected.
Gold prices were set to notch a weekly gain on Friday amid renewed safe-haven demand despite Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s attempt to calm trade-war fears after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $6.60, or 0.50%, to $1,335.10 a troy ounce.
Mnuchin told CNBC Friday that while there is possibility of trade war with China, he remained “cautiously optimistic” that the two nations would agree on a compromise. Mnuchin said on CNBC‘s “Power Lunch” Friday:
“Our objective is still not to be in a trade war with [China]. I’m cautiously optimistic that we will be able to work this out … There is the potential of a trade war.”
This comes just hours after Beijing vowed to fight back “resolutely” with fresh measures to protect its interests after President Donald Trump threatened to impose an extra $100 billion in tariffs.
Also helping sentiment was weakness in the greenback after the US economy created fewer than expected jobs in March, raising investor doubts about the prospect of the Federal Reserve adopting a faster pace of rate hikes. Stifel Financial Corp. said:
“The probability of a June rate hike remains elevated at 79% but without a meaningful uptick in price pressures, the FOMC will find it difficult to justify a second 2018 rate increase.”
In a rising interest rate environment, investor appetite for gold weakens as the opportunity cost of holding the precious metal increases relative to interest-bearing assets such as bonds.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures rose 0.06% to $16.37 a troy ounce, while platinum futures rose 0.23% to $917.40 an ounce.
Copper fell 0.63% to $3.055.
Crude oil prices settled at two-week lows on Friday as investors fled riskier assets amid escalating U.S.-China trade tensions, while U.S. oil rig counts jumped to a three-year high adding to downside momentum.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for May delivery fell 2.3% to settle at $62.06 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent lost 1.9% to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
Crude oil prices extended losses following data from energy services firm Baker Hughes showing the number of oil rigs operating in the US rose by 10 to 808, the highest level since March 27, 2015.
That added to ongoing fears over rising U.S. output, which climbed for a sixth straight week to 10.46 million barrels a day, according to data Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration.
The report came amid bearish sentiment on riskier assets such as oil as trade-war fears resurfaced after President Donald Trump’s instructed his administration to consider an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports.
Crude futures fell to a second weekly slump as trade-war fears dominated direction throughout the week despite some investor relief Wednesday, when a larger than expected draw in crude supplies, helped oil prices cut losses.
Analysts, however, pointed to rising geopolitical tensions as a supportive factor for oil prices, amid growing expectations that global crude supplies could face disruption as the threat of sanctions against both Iran and Venezuela have increased. Natixis Research said earlier this week:
“We have raised our estimate for Brent in 2018 to $67.50 a barrel as the geopolitical risk premium has increased since the arrival of Mike Pompeo at the Secretary of State and John Bolton as national security advisor, making sanctions against Iran and Venezuela more likely.”
Natural Gas (from FXEmpire)
Natural gas prices whipsawed closing near the lows of the trading session. The weather was mixed this week, and draws from inventories came in as expected. Active rig counts were nearly unchanged in the U.S. but lower in Canada. Prices are rangebound but bounced at support near the 10-day moving average at 2.68. Resistance is seen near a downward sloping trend line that comes in near 2.76. momentum is flat as the RSI (relative strength index) prints at 50, which is in the middle of the neutral range and reflects consolidation.
Active Rig Counts Climb
Baker Hughes reported a 10-rig increase to the number of oil and gas rigs this week. The total number of oil and gas rigs now stands at 1003, which is an addition of 164 rigs year over year. The number of oil rigs in the United States increased by 11 this week, for a total of 808 active oil wells in the US. The number of gas rigs held steady this week, still at 194; 29 rigs above this week last year. The oil and gas rig count in the United States has increased by 80 in 2018. While US drillers seem determined to add rigs, Canada continued its brutal losing streak, with a decrease of 23 oil and gas rigs, after losing 168 rigs last week in the four weeks prior. At just 111 total rigs, Canada now has 21 fewer rigs than it did a year ago.
