Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.25%
U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.62%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.74%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 4.48% or 16.18 points to trade at 377.29 at the close. Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 1.76% or 2.36 points to end at 136.22 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 0.94% or 1.23 points to 132.53 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which fell 2.79% or 3.58 points to trade at 124.82 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.64% or 2.50 points to end at 150.21 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was down 1.58% or 4.13 points to 256.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were State Street Corp (NYSE:STT) which rose 6.72% to 60.07, Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) which was up 6.34% to settle at 36.81 and Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) which gained 4.64% to close at 123.46.
The worst performers were Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS) which was down 4.06% to 151.59 in late trade, Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which lost 3.60% to settle at 17.80 and Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) which was down 3.23% to 65.04 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Midatech Pharma PLC ADR (NASDAQ:MTP) which rose 43.08% to 1.860, Akari Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:AKTX) which was up 17.80% to settle at 2.250 and Diversicare Healthcare Services Inc (NASDAQ:DVCR) which gained 17.30% to close at 3.69.
The worst performers were ARC Group Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:ARCW) which was down 32.43% to 0.250 in late trade, Neuralstem Inc (NASDAQ:CUR) which lost 30.59% to settle at 5.9000 and MYnd Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:EMMA) which was down 28.57% to 7.00 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1742 to 1262 and 27 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1584 fell and 1034 advanced, while 116 ended unchanged.
Shares in ARC Group Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:ARCW) fell to 5-year lows; losing 32.43% or 0.120 to 0.250.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.80% to 14.45.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.13% or 1.80 to $1426.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.81% or 0.45 to hit $55.75 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 0.91 to trade at $62.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.47% to 1.1222, while USD/JPY rose 0.39% to 107.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.38% at 96.817.
See also:
Canada stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite down 0.05%
U.K. stocks higher at close of trade; Investing.com United Kingdom 100 up 0.25%
Wall Street Week Ahead: Prospect of Fed cut pushing dividend investors into tech, energy (Reuters)
The U.S. dollar was higher on Friday, even as expectations rose that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by half a point at the end of the month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.3% to 96.738 by 10:26 AM ET (14:26 GMT).
U.S. President Donald Trump continued to put pressure on the Fed to cut rates, slamming the central bank via twitter for its “faulty thought process“.
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Thursday that the central bank needed to “act quickly” when rates were low, as “it’s better to take preventative measures than to wait for disaster to unfold.”
Meanwhile, preliminary data from the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index were about in line with expectations, as Americans became more optimistic about the future.
The index edged up to 98.4 so far in July from 98.2 in June.
The dollar fell against the Japanese yen, with USD/JPY up 0.4% to 107.64.
Elsewhere, the expectation of the U.S. easing its monetary policy has given emerging market central banks more confidence to cut interest rates without undermining their currencies. Indonesia, South Korea and South Africa all cut their key rates by 25 basis points on Thursday.
Meanwhile, EUR/USD slipped 0.4% to 1.1226, GBP/USD slipped 0.2% to 1.2581, while USD/CAD gained 0.3% to 1.3067.
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Expectations for a U.S. rate cut before the start of August is keeping gold supported in the $1,400 range, landing a second-straight week of gains for the precious metal.
{68|Spot gold}}, reflective of trades in bullion, traded at $1,428.85 per ounce by 1:36 PM ET (17:36 GMT), down $1.45, or 0.1%, on the day.
Gold futures for August delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, slipped $1.40 to settle at $1,426.70.
Bullion and futures of gold rose about 0.6% on the week despite weaker-than-expected U.S. housing data, while the IMF called the dollar “overvalued.”
In several tweets, President Donald Trump repeated his call for lower interest rates on Friday and accused the Fed of sticking to a “faulty thought process” as markets contemplate the possibility of a 50-basis-point cut at the July 30-31 policy meeting.
Although Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has repeatedly shrugged off Trump’s attacks, citing the central bank’s independence and a lack of necessity to responding to short-term political pressure, markets are convinced there will be at least a quarter-point cut and there’s a 60% chance rates will be 50 basis points lower after the September policy meeting, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. That would put the key federal funds rate at 1.75% to 2%.
Beyond the Fed, central banks worldwide have been taking an increasingly dovish stance on monetary policy to the benefit of non-yielding gold.
The European Central Bank is widely expected to give signs of further easing next week, with market odds for a cut having even surpassed 50% on Friday, while smaller central banks such as South Korea or South Africa already took action on Thursday.
The outlook for lower interest rates has spread across the fixed income market resulting in $13 trillion worth of bonds with negative yields, increasing the appeal of gold.
John Reade, chief market strategist at the World Gold Council, compared the performance of gold to bond yields in a series of tweets and reminded his followers that “zero is just a level, not a floor“.
In another bullish factor for the outlook, the “hoarding” of gold by central banks looked set to continue for the following year, according to a survey conducted by the World Gold Council and YouGov.
According to the poll of central banks, 54% of respondents expect global holdings to climb in the next 12 months amid concerns about risks in other reserve assets.
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Oil prices moved higher Friday on reports that Iran had seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The August contract West Texas intermediate crude briefly crossed above $56 a barrel before falling back by the settlement in New York. WTI settled at $55.63, up 33 cents. Brent crude . the global benchmark, settled up 54 cents to $62.46 in London after hitting a high of $63.32.
It was not clear why the Iranians seized the tanker; the state-run media said it was for violations of international regulations.
But the move injected more uncertainty into global oil markets already struggling for direction in the face of near-constant Middle East tensions and fears of global supply gluts.
Despite the reports from the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, oil prices fell more than 7% on the week, their worst performance in seven weeks.
The tanker seizure is just one more element in the tension-fraught relationship between the Trump Administration and authorities in Tehran. Almost any event can result in “swift policy changes,” New York-based Energy Intelligence said in its Petroleum Intelligence Weekly:
“Phases of escalation followed by renewed peacemaking efforts would appear a likely pattern.”
Both Washington and Tehran had indicated in recent weeks that despite the grandstanding and hostilities aimed at each other the past year, they want to resolve their more-than-year-long standoff.
In a Thursday news conference at the Iranian mission to the United Nations, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that President Donald Trump’s sanctions on Tehran’s oil and leaders be removed so that the two sides could talk.
Analysts believe that Zarif’s call will almost certainly be rejected by the Trump administration. For there to be talks, there should be no preconditions, Washington says. And in between all these, a U.S. warship in the Strait of Hormuz reportedly destroyed an Iranian surveillance drone on Thursday. But Tehran quickly denied losing any of its surveillance planes to Washington.
While it’s unlikely that Trump would agree to set aside all the sanctions he’s built against Iran’s oil and its leaders in order to bring Tehran to the negotiating table, it’s possible that he could meet Iran’s demands half-way. Trump could suspend his most objectionable sanctions against the Islamic Republic for a specified period – say three months — to give the peace process a chance.
Investing.com’s projections are that the price of WTI and Brent oil will fall about $5 a barrel within a week or two of the announcement that the two sides are ready to talk. And every rebound thereafter will be checked by the possibility of an impending Iran Nuclear Accord 2.0.
Earlier in the week, Trump said a trade deal with China might not happen right away and that he considering heavier tariffs against Beijing, which did not buy U.S. farm products as expected. Any negative news on China tends to hurt oil prices as well.
Crude has also fallen over the past week compensating for overruns in estimates for the damage from Hurricane Barry.
Barry, which came ashore in central Louisiana on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, promptly weakened into a tropical storm. Oil companies have since reopened their platforms in stages, pressuring prices.
See also:
- Oil Prices Rise After U.S. Takes Down Iranian Drone; Iran Denies Report
- Oil Capped By Shaky Demand Outlook (OilPrice)
Natural Gas
No report this week.
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