Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.90%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.90%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.51%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 3.41% or 1.88 points to trade at 57.08 at the close. Meanwhile, DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) added 3.21% or 2.06 points to end at 66.17 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up 2.22% or 0.95 points to 43.66 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which fell 0.36% or 0.45 points to trade at 123.85 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.11% or 0.11 points to end at 99.36 and American ExpressCompany (NYSE:AXP) was down 0.05% or 0.05 points to 98.25.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) which rose 5.89% to 55.21, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 4.88% to settle at 14.400 and DXC Technology Co (NYSE:DXC) which gained 4.68% to close at 83.40.
The worst performers were Concho Resources Inc (NYSE:CXO) which was down 5.90% to 129.21 in late trade, Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC) which lost 5.20% to settle at 88.09 and Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which was down 2.62% to 35.35 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Co-Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CODX) which rose 65.17% to 4.79, Netlist Inc (NASDAQ:NLST) which was up 31.92% to settle at 0.231 and Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ:CLWT) which gained 23.38% to close at 4.750.
The worst performers were Ominto Inc (NASDAQ:OMNT) which was down 53.40% to 0.4800 in late trade, Organovo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ONVO) which lost 26.40% to settle at 1.450 and Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) which was down 18.86% to 2.28 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2131 to 931 and 121 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1804 rose and 725 declined, while 142 ended unchanged.
Shares in TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) rose to 52-week highs; rising 5.89% or 3.07 to 55.21. Shares in Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.20% or 4.83 to 88.09. Shares in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) rose to 5-year highs; gaining 3.41% or 1.88 to 57.08. Shares in Ominto Inc (NASDAQ:OMNT) fell to all time lows; losing 53.40% or 0.5500 to 0.4800.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 12.51% to 13.50.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.53% or 6.90 to $1293.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.97% or 1.32 to hit $65.72 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.11% or 0.86 to trade at $76.70 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.30% to 1.1657, while USD/JPY rose 0.65% to 109.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 94.18.
See also:
Canada stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.01%
Mexico stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/BMV IPC up 0.78%
The U.S. dollar rose against its rivals on Friday following a blowout jobs report showing faster-than-expected wage growth, strengthening the Federal Reserve’s case to continue on its monetary policy tightening path.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.19% to 94.13, after falling to session low of 93.85.
Private payrolls grew by 223,000 for the May, a sharp uptick from the 163,000 in April, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP and Moody’s Analytics. That beat economists’ forecast of 189,000.
The jobless rate fell to 3.8%, beating economists’ forecasts for an unchanged reading of 3.9%. Average hourly earnings grew 0.3% in May, topping expectations for 0.2% rise.
Analysts said the jobs report showed broad gains and the Fed would add a fourth rate hike to its projections at its September meeting. Analysts at BMO said:
“NFP gains were broad based. The Fed will hike four times this year, but the fourth dot likely won’t appear in the forecasts until September.”
EUR/USD fell 0.22% but has steadied from a recent selloff as political turmoil in Italy abated after the country formed a government on Friday,.
GBP/USD rose 0.40% to $1.3351, while USD/CAD fell 0.21% to C$1.2955 amid expectations that the Bank of Canada could hike rates in July.
USD/JPY rose 0.60% as easing geopolitical uncertainty weighed on safe-haven yen.
Commitments of Traders (Report for week ending 29 May)
This week speculators were less bullish on the euro, crude oil, and the S&P 500. Bullishness increased for gold.
Note: The data is for the week ending on Tuesday 29 May so the last 3 days of trading are not reflected.
Gold prices fell below $1,300 as an upbeat jobs report cemented investor expectations the Federal Reserve would hike rates at its meeting later this month, lessening demand for the precious metal.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $5.20 or 0.40%, to $1,294.90 a troy ounce.
Private payrolls grew by 223,000 for the May, a sharp uptick from the 163,000 in April, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP and Moody’s Analytics. That beat economists’ forecast of 189,000.
The jobless rate fell to 3.8%, beating economists’ forecasts for unchanged reading of 3.9%. Average hourly earnings grew 0.3% in May, topping expectations for 0.2% rise.
Analysts at HFE said the data was “more than strong enough” for the Fed to hike rates in June, adding that further declines in the unemployment rate would likely accelerate wage growth. Analysts at HFE said in a note.
“More acceleration is likely as unemployment keeps falling. The data remain more than strong enough for the Fed to tighten again at that this month’s meeting.”
Other analysts, however, played down the prospect of a faster pace of rate hikes, citing average hourly earnings at 2.7% year over year was not enough to trigger more aggressive monetary policy action. Analysts at CIBC said in a note:
“Average hourly earnings at 2.7% year-on-year is within the range it has trended since mid-2016 and not enough to warrant a faster pace of rate hikes.”
Yet, traders’ expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes grew as Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool showed the odds of a fourth rate hike at the Fed’s December meeting rose to 32.6% from 27.6% yesterday.
The jobs report helped the dollar recover its losses, and U.S. bond yields to add to gains, keeping a lid on the gold’s attempts to spark a recovery as the yellow metal remained on track to post a weekly loss.
Also weighing on the yellow metal was falling geopolitical uncertainty as Italy formed a new government, while the fallout from the ousting of Spain’s Prime Minister Rajoy following a vote of no confidence was subdued.
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 gold as it pays no interest.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.20% to $16.43 a troy ounce, while platinum futures fell 0.53% to $905.30 an ounce.
Copper rose 0.98% to $3.10.
Crude oil prices settled sharply lower on Friday, posting their second straight weekly loss amid signs of ongoing U.S. expansion and uncertainty over whether OPEC would ease production limits.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for July delivery fell 1.8% to settle at $65.81 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent fell 1.01% to trade at $76.78 a barrel.
The number of oil rigs operating in the US increased by 2 to 861, its highest level since March 13, 2015, according to data from energy services firm Baker Hughes, pointing to signs of an expansion in U.S. output.
The uptick in drilling activity emerges as the Energy Information Administration said Thursday U.S. oil output rose 215,000 barrels per day to a record 10.47 million barrels per day in March.
Oil prices were on the back foot for most of the week but rallied on Wednesday amid a report OPEC and its allies would stick with production cuts. Traders, however, appeared to be hedging their bullish bets on a global oil shortage as OPEC’s June 22 meeting draws closer.
CFTC COT data data last week showed speculative net long positions in WTI crude oil fell to 377,520 from 385,283 in the prior week.
OPEC in its most recent report said the production-cut agreement had helped slashed excess global oil supplies to just above the five-year average.
In November 2016, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to slash global inventories to the five year-average. The OPEC-led deal was renewed last year through 2018.
The weekly slump in crude prices comes despite data this week showing U.S. crude supplies fell by 3.6 barrels for the week ended May 25.
The drop in domestic oil supplies, however, was somewhat offset by an unexpected rise in both gasoline and distillate.
See also U.S. and Brent crude part ways, leaving market flummoxed over oil prices (Reuters).
Natural Gas (Thursday Report)
Natural gas futures were higher on Thursday, reaching their strongest levels of the session following the release of weekly storage data.
Front-month U.S. natural gas futures jumped 9.4 cents, or around 3.3%, to $2.979 per million British thermal units (btu) by 10:32AM ET (1432GMT). Futures were at around $2.950 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 96 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended May 25, below forecasts for a gain of 100 bcf.
That compared with a build of 91 bcf in the preceding week, an increase of 81 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 97 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 1.725 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 788 bcf, or around 31.3%, lower than levels at this time a year ago, and 500 bcf, or roughly 22.4%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
Natural gas futures fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday, as weather forecasting models continued to predict that milder temperatures will cover the eastern part of the United States by the second week of June.
That will likely limit early summer cooling demand for the fuel.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on early summer cooling demand.
