Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.59%
U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Consumer Services, Technology and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.59%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.49%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.80%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.42% or 1.19 points to trade at 85.16 at the close. Meanwhile, Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) added 1.20% or 0.57 points to end at 48.21 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.18% or 1.54 points to 131.65 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which fell 1.65% or 0.85 points to trade at 50.72 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 1.51% or 3.45 points to end at 224.67 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was down 1.51% or 1.96 points to 128.16.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which rose 3.96% to 81.21, Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which was up 3.43% to settle at 186.54 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which gained 3.40% to close at 295.87.
The worst performers were Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ:XLNX) which was down 6.82% to 96.55 in late trade, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which lost 5.53% to settle at 270.75 and MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) which was down 4.10% to 225.73 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Reebonz Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:RBZ) which rose 32.99% to 2.58, Benitec Biopharma Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:BNTC) which was up 18.86% to settle at 0.8201 and Replimune Group Inc (NASDAQ:REPL) which gained 16.75% to close at 16.87.
The worst performers were USA Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:USAT) which was down 34.77% to 4.990 in late trade, Francescas Holdings (NASDAQ:FRAN) which lost 24.80% to settle at 11.16 and AEterna Zentaris Inc (NASDAQ:AEZS) which was down 22.42% to 1.280 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1454 to 1401 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1346 rose and 1328 declined, while 70 ended unchanged.
Shares in AEterna Zentaris Inc (NASDAQ:AEZS) fell to 52-week lows; losing 22.42% or 0.370 to 1.280.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 9.04% to 15.32.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.19% or 17.85 to $1524.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.38% or 0.22 to hit $58.41 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.36% or 0.23 to trade at $64.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.21% to 1.1017, while USD/JPY fell 0.40% to 107.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 98.085.
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The British pound surged to new highs against the euro and dollar Friday on optimism that the U.K. and EU will avoid a disorderly Brexit on Oct. 31, although the basis of such hopes remained open to question.
By 4:15 AM (0815 GMT), the pound was at $1.2565, just off an intra-day high of $1.2582 that was its highest since July 12. It was also at 1.1364 against the euro, having earlier hit a four-month high of 1.1380.
The pound had started to rally late on Thursday after Sky News quote outgoing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as saying that the U.K. and EU could still strike a deal to prevent a disorderly Brexit on Oct. 31.
However, Juncker’s comments amounted to little more than a restatement of what has long been EU policy regarding the Brexit negotiations, and Juncker said elsewhere in the interview that he hadn’t read the U.K.’s latest proposals on how to break the deadlock over the so-called “Irish backstop”, under which the U.K. province of Northern Ireland would be likely to stay more aligned with EU regulation in future.
By contrast, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told local media on Friday that there was still a “large gap” between the two sides and that much of what was being touted as progress by the U.K. was “spin”.
The U.K.’s latest proposals, which were sent in writing to the EU this week, are not legally binding and therefore still don’t meet the key EU desire of proper legal guarantees.
Elsewhere, the dollar was broadly lower amid a revival in risk appetite caused by the resumption of trade talks between junior Chinese and U.S. officials. Higher-level talks are due to resume in early October.
That helped the Chinese yuan to strengthen slightly, as did the fact that another cut in the People’s Bank of China’s one-year loan rate didn’t ease financial conditions as much as some had hoped for.
Another beneficiary was the Russian ruble, which hit its highest level against the dollar since the end of July. By 4:15 AM ET, it was at 63.85 to the dollar.
The safe-haven yen was broadly unchanged after the Bank of Japan took action to steepen the domestic yield curve, while consumer price inflation data came in weaker than expected, raising the pressure on the BoJ to take more action at next month’s policy meeting after it chose to leave its policy unchanged on Thursday.
See also:
- Forex – Dollar Extends Losses on Lingering Trade Hopes
- Euro-Area Officials Join Draghi in Call for Looser Purse Strings (Bloomberg)
Gold prices rose on Friday as investors drew in their horns at the end of a week that has ultimately done little to give the market any real sense of direction.
Global central banks have done little to encourage new long positions this week, disappointing the hopes of some who were counting on a robust easing of monetary policy across the world between now and the end of the year.
Analysts at Frankfurt-based Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen said in a weekly note:
“A pattern is seeming to repeat itself. Whenever the U.S. equity market comes under pressure, the U.S. President de-escalates. Admittedly that doesn’t help find a real solution, but it seems it’s enough for many investors to change back into risk-on mode.”
By 1 PM ET (1500 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange were up 0.3% at $1,512.25 a troy ounce.
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Oil was headed for its biggest weekly rise since June on Friday although gains on the day were modest as traders pared bullish bets ahead of the weekend and uncertainty over the United States’ next move on Iran after the Saudi attack.
Both WTI crude and the U.K. Brent benchmarks were up nearly 7% on the week amid worries that production by top oil exporter Saudi Arabia may not be as stable as stated by Riyadh after the Sept. 14 attack on its oil infrastructure.
By 2:25 PM ET (18:25 GMT), WTI was 0.05%, at $58.22 per barrel. U.K. Brent crude was flat at $64.40.
For the week, WTI was headed for a gain of 6.5% and Brent nearly 7%. It was a wild week in oil, with prices surging as much 19% on Monday, right after the attack, and tumbling about 6% the following session as traders tried to gauge the impact on global oil supply. Friday’s gains were relatively modest as traders awaited the outcome of a high-level meeting by the Trump administration on the Saudi attack and how to deal with Iran.
Washington suspects Iran as the perpetrator for the Sept 14 attack which initially disrupted 5.7 million barrels per day of Saudi production — or 5% of world global output. Yemen-based Houthi rebels, however, have claimed responsibility for the attack and Tehran any role in it.
The New York Times reported that Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford would meet with President Donald Trump later Friday to present possible options for military retaliation.
So far, the U.S. has blamed Iran directly for the attacks, but Trump’s only concrete reaction has been to impose further sanctions on the country, a move largely dismissed as symbolic given that existing U.S. sanctions on the country are already strangling its trade and capital flows.
Saudi state oil company Aramco repeated its assurances Friday that it will have 11 million barrels a day of capacity back online by the end of the month, well above its current actual output level.
Much is riding on the kingdom’s ability to recover from the initial attack and protect itself from future ones. IHS Markit chief economist Nariman Behravesh said in a research note:
“A sustained oil price increase of $10 – $20 per barrel could cut global growth by 0.1 – 0.2 percentage point. While the damage of an oil shock to the US economy will be much less than in the past, the harm to large net oil-importing economies such as China, Japan, and Europe could be significant.”
U.S. prices may also come under some pressure in the short term after heavy rainfall in the Houston area hit refinery activity. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) closed its 370,000 b/d Beaumont refinery on Thursday due to flooding. However, the floods have been nowhere near as severe as Hurricane Harvey two years ago, which knocked 4 million barrels a day of refining capacity offline.
See also:
- Oil Fall as OPEC Output Cut, China-U.S. Trade Optimism Fail to Lift Prices
- Oil slips on global demand fears despite U.S.-China trade talk hopes (Reuters)
Natural Gas – No report this week
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