Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.42%
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 gained 1.21%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.34%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 4.92% or 2.21 points to trade at 47.13 at the close. Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 4.65% or 5.71 points to end at 128.40 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) was up 3.80% or 5.79 points to 158.10 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which fell 1.29% or 2.74 points to trade at 209.02 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.74% or 1.66 points to end at 222.07 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was down 0.70% or 0.85 points to 121.09.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) which rose 17.15% to 36.34, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was up 7.18% to settle at 9.55 and Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) which gained 7.14% to close at 20.72.
The worst performers were Edison International (NYSE:EIX) which was down 3.85% to 71.33 in late trade, Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:NEM) which lost 3.39% to settle at 37.62 and MarketAxess Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MKTX) which was down 3.04% to 348.19 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Synthesis Energy Systems Inc (NASDAQ:SES) which rose 191.67% to 5.2500, Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTNP) which was up 34.29% to settle at 0.4300 and Trevi Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TRVI) which gained 34.04% to close at 4.45.
The worst performers were Auris Medical Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:EARS) which was down 15.77% to 2.190 in late trade, Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX) which lost 15.66% to settle at 29.99 and Luokung Technology Corp (NASDAQ:LKCO) which was down 15.16% to 3.470 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2176 to 707 and 61 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2010 rose and 636 declined, while 68 ended unchanged.
Shares in Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) rose to 52-week highs; up 17.15% or 5.32 to 36.34. Shares in Auris Medical Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:EARS) fell to all time lows; falling 15.77% or 0.410 to 2.190. Shares in Luokung Technology Corp (NASDAQ:LKCO) fell to 52-week lows; down 15.16% or 0.620 to 3.470.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 11.48% to 15.58.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.50% or 7.50 to $1493.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 2.48% or 1.33 to hit $54.88 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 2.64% or 1.56 to trade at $60.66 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.30% to 1.1037, while USD/JPY rose 0.42% to 108.42.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.37% at 98.045.
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Gold sunk beneath its bullish $1,500 perch as investors embraced risk and dumped safe havens on Friday. The selling was prompted by speculation the United States and China were on the verge of a trade deal, after more than a year of wrangling and hundreds of billions of dollars in tit-for-tat tariffs.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled down $12.20, or 0.8%, at $1,488.70 per ounce.
Spot gold fell by 9.32, or 0.6%, to $1,484.24 by 2:05 PM ET (18:05 GMT).
Risk assets across markets rose on Friday as hopes ran high that talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Washington would culminate in a partial trade deal and delay planned U.S. tariff increases against Beijing. Trump meets Liu in the White House at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT) after two days of top-level discussions.
Trump himself tweeted:
“Good things are happening at China Trade Talk Meeting. Warmer feelings than in recent past, more like the Old Days. I will be meeting with the Vice Premier today. All would like to see something significant happen!”
Confidence that a smoother Brexit might be possible after all resulted in higher risk taking as well. Stocks were higher in Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
Reports earlier on Friday indicated that the European Union and the United Kingdom were entering “more intense” discussions of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest proposals to avoid a disorderly Brexit, the fear of which has been a major factor in driving European portfolio demand for gold this year. The yield on the 10-year U.K. government bond surged 10 basis points in response to 0.69%, its highest in over three weeks.
With portfolio holdings of gold close to all-time highs, the metal is vulnerable to pull-backs, at least in the short term, analysts say. George Gero, analyst at RBC Wealth Management in New York, said:
“The markets are back in risk mode and out of safe havens, with all eyes are on the China-U.S. tariff talks and a better Brexit. That said, precious metals prices can turn very quickly and buying on major setbacks has always been helpful to bargain hunters.”
Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity research at BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP), argued in a blog post for the World Gold Council this week that bulls can still look forward to three more rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, taking the Fed’s key federal funds rate down to 1.25% by June 2020. It’s 2% now.
Elsewhere, there were signs of how volatility in gold prices this year has caused some unexpected problems in the Far East, where much of the world’s physical gold demand is based.
In an interview with Reuters, Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob urged the country’s gold traders to keep the proceeds of their gold sales overseas for longer, because the repatriation of profits was putting too much upward pressure on the local currency. Veerathai said:
“There were quite huge gold flows, which added to appreciation pressure on the baht.”
Gold dealers said exports had spiked because Thais who bought gold in the past were taking advantage of a recent rise in global prices to cash out.
Despite the recent outflows, Thailand has still imported a net $43.6 billion of gold since 2009 – although that includes imports for use in jewelry and religious items in the largely Buddhist country as well as by gold traders.
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Optimism that the United States and China can agree on a partial trade deal at least, along with reports of an attack on an Iranian oil tanker, drove crude prices up by nearly 2% on Friday, their most in nearly a month.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up $1.15, or 2.1%, at $54.70 per barrel.
U.K. Brent oil closed up $1.41, or 2.4%, at $60.51.
For the week, both the benchmarks rose 3.6%, marking their biggest rally since the run-up right after the Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. Oil prices jumped nearly 15% in their first day of trading after that attack, and settled that week up by 6% or more.
Despite Friday’s rebound, some traders said they were poised to sell oil in the new week if the trade deal did not materialize and calm returned to the Persian Gulf. xJohn Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, said:
“We’ve seen what’s happened so far with U.S.-China negotiations, and until it’s there in print and endorsed by the Chinese, it’s not done. The tensions in the Gulf have also dissipated almost as quickly as they began, so that’s another factor to consider.”
Risk assets across markets rose on Friday as hopes ran high that talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Washington would culminate in a partial trade deal and delay planned U.S. tariff increases against Beijing. Trump met Liu in the White House at 2:45 PM ET (18:45 GMT) after two days of top-level discussions between the two sides.
Trump himself tweeted:
“Good things are happening at China Trade Talk Meeting. Warmer feelings than in recent past, more like the Old Days. I will be meeting with the Vice Premier today. All would like to see something significant happen!”
Trump was scheduled to meet Liu in the White House after two days of top-level discussions between the two sides. But nearly an hour later, at the time of writing, there was no follow up tweet from the president or statement from the White House.
Crude prices also spiked earlier on Friday after Iranian claims of an attack on one of its oil tankers ran into skepticism, while the International Energy Agency also tempered buying interest by again trimming its forecasts for global oil demand.
Iranian national news agency IRNA said the tanker Sabiti, sailing through the Red Sea, had been struck by two unidentified objects believed to be missiles, causing a fire and oil leakage into the sea.
But the Iranian government later undermined the credibility of the report by saying that the ship had not been set on fire. IRNA also cited the National Iranian Oil Company as denying suggestions that it had been struck by missiles fired from Saudi Arabia.
The consultancy Tankertrackers.com noted that Sabiti was still making surprisingly good speed after the attack.
The International Energy Agency, meanwhile, downgraded its forecast for global oil demand growth next year by 100,000 barrels a day. It also cut its forecast for 2019 by a similar amount, but said this was due to changes in the calculation of last year’s output.
In addition, it noted that petroleum stocks in advanced economies had increased for the fifth consecutive month in August, leaving them close to the record levels seen in 2016, when they topped 3 billion barrels.
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Natural Gas – No report this week
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