Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.75%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Technology sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.75%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.96%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.58%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average wereCaterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 2.88% or 3.89 points to trade at 139.06 at the close. Meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.37% or 1.20 points to end at 51.75 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.13% or 2.69 points to 128.90 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which fell 0.22% or 0.45 points to trade at 200.56 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.22% or 0.50 points to end at 231.95 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was 0.00% or 0.00 points to 54.94.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newell Brands Inc (NASDAQ:NWL) which rose 13.52% to 16.63, Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which was up 9.34% to settle at 52.00 and Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) which gained 8.83% to close at 63.11.
The worst performers were Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp Class A (NASDAQ:CTSH) which was down 11.05% to 59.25 in late trade, Stericycle Inc(NASDAQ:SRCL) which lost 9.15% to settle at 52.01 and Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) which was down 4.84% to 47.15 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Evine Live Inc (NASDAQ:EVLV) which rose 66.39% to 0.609, Durect Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX) which was up 49.01% to settle at 0.790 and Zix Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIXI) which gained 34.63% to close at 11.080.
The worst performers were Guardion Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GHSI) which was down 24.10% to 1.6100 in late trade, Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DFFN) which lost 22.20% to settle at 4.5900 and Harvard Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ:HBIO) which was down 21.87% to 2.930 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2359 to 645 and 87 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2072 rose and 582 declined, while 77 ended unchanged.
Shares in Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp Class A (NASDAQ:CTSH) fell to 52-week lows; losing 11.05% or 7.36 to 59.25. Shares in Guardion Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GHSI) fell to all time lows; losing 24.10% or 0.5113 to 1.6100. Shares in Zix Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIXI) rose to 5-year highs; rising 34.63% or 2.850 to 11.080.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.75% to 12.87.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.65% or 8.30 to $1280.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.08% or 0.05 to hit $61.86 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.08 to trade at $70.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.24% to 1.1202, while USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 111.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.40% at 97.197.
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Canada stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.51%
U.K. stocks higher at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 up 0.44%
The U.S. dollar looked set to snap a two-week winning streak Friday as jobs data showing softer wage growth supported expectations that the Federal Reserve is likely to remain on pause.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell by 0.34% to 97.25.
The Nonfarm payrolls rose by 263,000 compared to expectations for a 181,000 gain, according to estimates from Investing.com.
The unemployment rate fell 2 basis points to 3.6%, but average hourly earnings, an important number to gauge inflation, rose 0.2% below expectations for a 0.3% rise.
The mixed jobs report does little to divert the Fed’s current course of noa ction, analysts argued. Hedge Fund Economics said in a note:
“The data don’t give the Fed reason to start tightening again soon, but they certainly don’t support the case for easing either. Fed officials will likely want to see employment growth slow a lot more to stop the downtrend in unemployment.”
GBP/USD rise 1.01% to 1.317 as the main opposition partied signaled it was ready to make a Brexit deal with the government after local election results showed voters were turning their banks on the country’s main parties amid frustrations over Brexit deadlock.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister Theresa May have been in talks for several weeks, but recent media reports had suggested both parties were still far from reaching a consensus.
EUR/USD rose 0.16% to $1.1194, but gains were capped by ongoing uncertainty over whether the trading bloc will mount an economic recovery in the second half of the year.
USD/CAD fell 0.33% to C$1.3430 as the loonie was boosted by a rise in oil prices.
USD/JPY fell 0.31% to Y111.16 as a decline in U.S. government bond yields weighed on the dollar, propping up the safe-haven yen.
See also:
- Forex – Dollar Continues to Enjoy Post-Fed Gains Despite Mixed Economic Data (Thursday article)
Those long gold must be hearkening back to Yogi Berra: It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
Those who anticipated Friday’s strong U.S. jobs report would sound the death knell for gold after the less-dovish Fed from earlier in the week ought to think again.
Bullion and futures of gold both rebounded in the latest session, after Thursday’s tumble took prices of the yellow metal to four-month lows.
Spot gold, reflective of trades in bullion, was up $9.82, or 0.8%, at $1,280.41 per ounce by 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT). It plumbed $1,266.35 on Thursday, its lowest level since Dec. 27.
Gold futures for June delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, settled up $9.30, or 0.7%, at $1,281.30 per ounce. The previous day, June gold fell 1% for biggest one-day percentage decline in more than two weeks.
George Gero, precious metals analyst at RBC Wealth Management in New York, said :
“We made such a low in gold yesterday that there are hardly any weak hands left, and shorts covering is lifting the market today. This shows that gold’s good run isn’t over despite the Fed’s latest stance, and there is a need for bullion investors to refocus on the longer term.”
The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, in line with the market’s expectations. But the central bank also emphasized that it saw no compelling reason to consider a rate cut any time soon, citing rising employment and economic growth.
The dollar initially ran up after the Fed’s statement. But it couldn’t maintain its momentum on Friday despite the resilient U.S. jobs numbers for April. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a 49-year low of 3.6%.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.3% at 97.29.
Forex traders said the greenback turned weaker after the ISM U.S. service sector PMI for April fell to its lowest level since August 2017.
Reflecting investor sentiment towards bullion, holdings in the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), SPDR Gold Trust (P:GLD), fell about 0.2% to 745.52 tons on Thursday, its lowest since Oct. 12, Reuters reported. ING analyst Warren Patterson told Reuters:
“The ETF holdings in gold continue to decline and in the last few week specs on COMEX switched from net long to net short as there is a risk on approach from investors.”
Elsewhere in metals, palladium rose nearly 1% in further recovery from Tuesday’s shocking’s 7% tumble triggered by worries that global supplies of the auto-catalyst metal weren’t as tight as thought.
Spot palladium was up $10.30, or 0.8%, at $1,366.60 an ounce. The silvery-white metal, used for purifying gasoline emissions, traded some $300 above gold in early March before cutting that premium to about $100 or less lately.
Trades in other Comex metals as of 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT):
Palladium futures up $15.80, or 1.2%, at $1,359 per ounce.
Platinum futures up $20.35, or 2.4%, at $874.55 per ounce.
Silver futures up 4 cents, or 2.5%, at $14.98 per ounce.
Copper futures up 4 cents, or 1.5%, at $2.83 per pound.
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Oil bulls must have said “Thank God It’s (Jobs) Friday!”.
Yet, that wasn’t enough to save crude futures from posting their second straight weekly loss.
Oil markets managed to rebound on Friday from the previous day’s dismal performance triggered by a shocking U.S. crude stockpile build.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled 13 cents higher at $61.94 per barrel, after sinking 2.8% on Thursday, after the April U.S. employment report bested expectations, lifting Wall Street’s main indexes and appetite across risk assets, including commodities.
WTI tumbled nearly 3% in the previous session, when it briefly sank beneath $61, its lowest level since April 1.
The U.S. crude benchmark finished the present week down 2.1%.
London Brent futures, the global benchmark for oil, settled up 10 cents, or 0.14%, at $70.85, recovering some ground after Thursday’s 2% slide. For the week. Brent lost 1.1% after a small gain a week earlier.
For the year, WTI remains up 36% while Brent’s gain is about 32%. Retail gasoline prices are still rising, with the national average price of gasoline at $2.895 a gallon. That was up from Thursday’s $2.888 and up 1.7% for the week and 27.8% this year, according to the American Automobile Association.
Oil was also supported by the weekly reading on U.S. oil rigs, which rose just slightly, after U.S oil production as a whole was estimated earlier this week at a record high of 12.3 million barrels per day.
Oil services firm Baker Hughes gave market bulls a sentiment boost last week by reporting a 20-rig drop for oil drilling in its weekly activity survey, sending the data to 13-month lows. For this week, it reported a rise of two oil rigs.
The disconnect between drilling data and production estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Administration has sent mixed signals to the trade, trapping crude prices in a range after six-month-highs above $65 for WTI and $75 for Brent last week.
Thursday’s 3% tumble came after the EIA shocked the market by reporting a weekly build of nearly 10 million barrels that brought the gains to almost 30 million in the past five weeks. That, and the EIA’s record output estimate, has cast serious doubts on a crude rally that just a week ago seemed unstoppable. SEB analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said in a note:
“Even with deep losses in supply from Iran and Venezuela, as well as a few other countries around the world, OPEC+ will still need to hold back production to balance the market.”
Production from Saudi Arabia could edge higher in June to meet domestic demand for power generation, though output will remain within its quota in the supply pact, sources familiar with the kingdom’s policy told Reuters.
The world’s top crude exporter is expected to produce about 10 million bpd in May, slightly higher than in April, but still below its 10.3 million bpd quota under the OPEC-led deal, the sources said.
Another negative was Russia’s ability to clean up contamination in its Druzhba oil pipeline and resume exports to western Europe within days versus the weeks many had anticipated.
Analysts said hedge funds were particularly cautious of adding to a market that increasingly looks like it has gotten ahead of itself and could snap back anytime on bearish data.
“Some of the components of energy remain very strong, with gasoline spreads nearly parabolic and U.S. heating oil spreads also being taken for the ride,” said Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP (LON:NXGN) in Durham, N.C. Wholesale gasoline to be delivered in June is trading at about $2.03 a gallon. The price for gasoline delivered in March is $1.725, a difference of about 30 cents a gallon.
“The market simply has very little shorts that can cover” in the event things go wrong, Shelton added.
See also:
- An Oil Supply Glut Is Looming (Oilprice.com)
No report this week.
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