Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.44%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Telecoms sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.44%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.08%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 2.38% or 2.37 points to trade at 101.91 at the close. Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 1.70% or 1.77 points to end at 106.01 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was up 1.67% or 0.79 points to 48.19 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 1.39% or 2.77 points to trade at 197.18 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 0.90% or 0.42 points to end at 46.20 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was down 0.26% or 0.14 points to 53.42.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BKNG) which rose 5.40% to 1829.85, News Corp A (NASDAQ:NWSA) which was up 4.11% to settle at 11.90 and Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NYSE:KDP) which gained 4.00% to close at 29.41.
The worst performers were Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) which was down 12.54% to 19.39 in late trade, Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which lost 4.72% to settle at 129.89 and Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which was down 3.88% to 18.60 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Genetic Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:GENE) which rose 95.31% to 1.375, Charles & Colvard Ltd (NASDAQ:CTHR) which was up 37.29% to settle at 1.6200 and Westport Fuel Systems Inc (NASDAQ:WPRT) which gained 33.53% to close at 2.230.
The worst performers were Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ:PBYI) which was down 38.64% to 18.42 in late trade, Qurate Retail Inc Series B (NASDAQ:QRTEB) which lost 28.95% to settle at 11.777 and Verastem Inc (NASDAQ:VSTM) which was down 28.04% to 1.360 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1907 to 1060 and 116 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1391 rose and 1247 declined, while 88 ended unchanged.
Shares in Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ:PBYI) fell to 5-year lows; losing 38.64% or 11.60 to 18.42. Shares in Charles & Colvard Ltd (NASDAQ:CTHR) rose to 3-years highs; rising 37.29% or 0.4400 to 1.6200. Shares in Qurate Retail Inc Series B (NASDAQ:QRTEB) fell to 5-year lows; down 28.95% or 4.798 to 11.777. Shares in Verastem Inc (NASDAQ:VSTM) fell to 52-week lows; losing 28.04% or 0.530 to 1.360.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 16.02% to 16.04.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.12% or 1.50 to $1286.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $61.73 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.58% or 0.41 to trade at $70.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.1235, while USD/JPY rose 0.20% to 109.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 97.115.
See also:
Canada stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite down 0.15%
U.K. stocks lower at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 down 0.06%
The S&P 500 has its worst week year-to-date (ETF Daily News)
The Nasdaq has its worst week year-to-date (ETF Daily News)
The dollar is broadly lower in early trading in Europe on Friday as markets ‘sell the fact’ of higher U.S. tariffs on China, after ‘buying the rumor’ all week.
As of Friday, tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the U.S. will be raised to 25% from 10%, and President Donald Trump said he had ordered the preparation of new tariffs on a further $325 billion worth of goods. If they, too, come into force, that will mean nearly all of the U.S.’s imports from China will be subject to a 25% tariff.
Beijing threatened to retaliate overnight but had not issued any detailed measures as of the time of writing.
At 03:00 AM ET (0700 GMT), the dollar was lower against both the official yuan and the offshore yuan, although the offshore rate is still nearly 1.5% down from before the weekend, when Trump signalled that the trade talks were falling apart.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was at 97.21, its stability masking a 1% drop against the safe-haven yen this week. The dollar failed to make meaningful gains against the yen on Friday even after the biggest drop in Japanese average earnings in four years in March, which also contributed to household spending falling short of analyst expectations.
The dollar has offset its losses against the yen and Swiss franc this week with gains against sterling, which remains under pressure given the lack of progress in talks between the government and opposition over a formula for getting parliament’s approval for Brexit. The pound faces a test at 0830 GMT this morning from first-quarter GDP data, which are expected to be artificially inflated by panicked stock-building ahead of the original Brexit deadline of March 29.
The euro was slightly higher at $1.1230, on course for a gain of around a quarter of a percent for the week.
Elsewhere, the South African rand strengthened to a two-week high against the dollar after elections returned the African National Congress to power, albeit with a smaller majority that may force it to be more aggressive in tackling legacy issues of corruption and economic mismanagement.
The Turkish lira, meanwhile, stayed stuck clearly above 6.10 to the dollar, even after the central bank raised interest rates on Thursday to defend the currency.
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President Donald Trump may have delivered the blow he promised China on new trade tariffs, but don’t expect gold prices to take off like a rocket beyond $1,300 because of that.
While gold could certainly benefit if the U.S.-China trade angst leads to a further battering of equities, the yellow metal’s mixed technicals and fundamentals mean that its reach as a safe-haven will be limited.
Gold futures for June delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, settled at $1,287.40 per ounce, up $2.20, or 0.2% on the day.
Spot gold, reflective of trades in bullion, was up $2.09, or 0.2%, at $1,286.06 per ounce by 2:45 PM ET (18:45 GMT).
Gold rose after the U.S. raised tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, bringing their duties to 25% from a current 10%, despite Trump saying China’s President Xi Jinping had written him a “beautiful letter” on how the two nations could cooperate on trade. Beijing promised to retaliate, escalating a battle over China’s technology ambitions.
“I do think that the longer that a trade agreement doesn’t get resolved between these two countries, and things continue to heat up between Trump and China, you will see gold benefit,” said Philip Streible, senior strategist for metals for RJO Futures in Chicago.
“But you also have a problem with gold in the sense that it’s run into a stiff resistance,” Streible said. “The 100-day moving average is $1,300 and the 200-day moving average is $1,267. So we’re going to be technically range bound at those levels.”
Gold also advanced on Thursday after the dollar fell. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.1% at 97.12.
Geopolitical tensions provided support to gold too.
The U.S. Maritime Administration said in an advisory on Friday that commercial ships including oil tankers sailing through key Middle East waterways could be targeted by Iran in one of the threats to U.S. interests posed by Tehran.
Earlier this week, the U.S. military said a number of B-52 bombers would be part of additional forces being sent to the Middle East to counter what the Trump administration calls “clear indications” of threats from Iran to U.S. forces there. The Islamic Republic has dismissed the U.S. contention of a threat as “fake intelligence”.
Elsewhere in metals, palladium rose strongly to trade above gold agan after briefly losing its mantle on Thursday as the world’s costliest traded metal.
Spot palladium was up $49.44, or 3.8%, at $1,348.55 an ounce. The silvery-white metal, used for purifying gasoline emissions, traded above $1,600 at one point in early March.
Trades in other Comex metals as of 2:45 PM ET (18:45 GMT):
Palladium futuresup $59.30, or 4.6%, at $1,342.30 per ounce.
Platinum futures up $14.80, or 1.7%, at $866.20 per ounce.
Silver futures up 1 cents, or 0.1%, at $14.79 per ounce.
Copper futures flat at $2.77 per pound.
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Is Copper a buy after it’s recent decline? (ETF Daily News)
President DonaldTrump has made good on his threat to hit China with higher import tariffs but crude prices are holding well because of another Trump policy that’s working just as well with the Chinese: sanctions on Iranian oil.
Reports that China Petrochemical and China National Petroleum, both top state-owned refiners, were skipping Iranian oil purchases for loading in May to avoid U.S. penalties helped U.S. crude futures to recoup much of Friday’s early losses and for Brent crude to settle higher.
West Texas Intermediate futures, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled down 4 cents at $61.66 per barrel.
London Brent futures, the global benchmark for oil, gained 23 cents, or 0.3%, to finish the day at $70.62.
Both benchmarks posted modest weekly losses, with WTI down 0.5% and Brent showing 0.3% decline.
Oil prices fell much sharper in Friday’s early trade after the U.S. raised tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, bringing their duties to 25% from a previous 10%, despite Trump saying China’s President Xi Jinping had written him a “beautiful letter” on how the two nations could cooperate on trade. Beijing promised to retaliate, escalating a battle over China’s technology ambitions.
But crude came off their lows as traders took note of a Reuters report that Chinese refiners have skipped bookings for Iranian cargo loadings in May on worries that taking oil from Tehran could invoke U.S. sanctions and cut them out of the global financial system. China is Iran’s largest oil customer with imports of 475,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of this year, according to Chinese customs data.
Aside from the Iranian sanctions, contamination in Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline, a key conduit for crude into Eastern Europe and Germany, has hit Russian exports, further capping losses in crude futures.
“The fact that Rosneft is boosting imports into the Pacific is a telling sign that the ‘struggle is real’ on Russian exports into Europe,” Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP (LON:NXGN) in Durham, North Carolina, said, referring to Russia’s largest oil driller.
“The optimism of a quick return of Russian exports is becoming a major question to many traders in the market,” Shelton said in an email to Investing.com.
Geopolitical tensions also supported oil prices.
U.S. commercial ships including oil tankers sailing through key Middle East waterways could be targeted by Iran in one of the threats to U.S. interests posed by Tehran, the U.S. Maritime Administration said in an advisory.
The U.S. military said this week that a number of B-52 bombers would be part of additional forces being sent to the Middle East to counter what the Trump administration calls “clear indications” of threats from Iran to U.S. forces there. The Islamic Republic has dismissed the U.S. contention of a threat as “fake intelligence”.
Also a measure of support for oil on Friday was the slight decline in the U.S. oil rig count published by industry firm {{0|Baker Hughes}}. Oil rigs fell back by 2 this week to stand at 805, offsetting last week’s two-rig rise, Baker Hughes said.
See also:
No report this week.
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