Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.39%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Financials and Telecoms sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.39%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.22%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.16%.
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side for social media buttons.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 1.56% or 0.59 points to trade at 38.33 at the close. Meanwhile, 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) added 1.49% or 2.46 points to end at 167.60 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 1.34% or 4.90 points to 371.34 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which fell 1.05% or 0.61 points to trade at 57.61 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) declined 0.43% or 0.30 points to end at 69.37 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was down 0.42% or 0.50 points to 119.36.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which rose 10.58% to 37.95, Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which was up 5.18% to settle at 15.43 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which gained 4.89% to close at 18.01.
The worst performers were Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU) which was down 4.18% to 259.81 in late trade, Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which lost 3.80% to settle at 64.37 and Foot Locker Inc (NYSE:FL) which was down 2.92% to 40.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aslan Pharmaceuticals Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:ASLN) which rose 293.27% to 1.73, EyeGate Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYEG) which was up 48.02% to settle at 7.090 and Akerna Corp (NASDAQ:KERN) which gained 35.33% to close at 7.24.
The worst performers were Viveve Medical Inc (NASDAQ:VIVE) which was down 57.60% to 0.9200 in late trade, Helius Medical Technologies Inc Class A (NASDAQ:HSDT) which lost 32.80% to settle at 0.3999 and Arcimoto Inc (NASDAQ:FUV) which was down 26.67% to 1.65 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1705 to 1093 and 129 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1525 rose and 1105 declined, while 103 ended unchanged.
Shares in Viveve Medical Inc (NASDAQ:VIVE) fell to 5-year lows; falling 57.60% or 1.2500 to 0.9200. Shares in Helius Medical Technologies Inc Class A (NASDAQ:HSDT) fell to all time lows; falling 32.80% or 0.1951 to 0.3999. Shares in Arcimoto Inc (NASDAQ:FUV) fell to all time lows; down 26.67% or 0.60 to 1.65.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.02% to 12.34.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.14% or 2.05 to $1461.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.08% or 0.63 to hit $57.95 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.53% or 0.34 to trade at $63.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.31% to 1.1023, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 108.66.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.28% at 98.175.
See also:
The U.S. dollar rose on Friday after comments from U.S. President Donald Trump on China increased hope that the two sides would sign a trade deal soon.
Speaking on Fox News, Trump said a deal with China was “potentially very close,” and also indicated that he might not sign a bill passed this week by Congress that supports Hong Kong in an attempt to appease Beijing. Trump said:
“We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I’m also standing with President Xi [Jinping], he’s a friend of mine. He’s an incredible guy, but we have to stand…I’d like to see them work it out, ok?”
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was steady at 97.760 as of 9:56 AM ET (14:56 GMT) after rising to 97.920 earlier in the session.
The greenback was also supported by an increase in U.S. manufacturing output in November, data showed. The services activity also picked up, IHS Markit said, as both indexes were at their highest level since April.
The safe-haven Japanese yen was flat with USD/JPY at 108.61.
Elsewhere, sterling tumbled, with GBP/USD falling 0.5% to 1.2845 while EUR/USD slipped 0.1% to 1.1042. The trade-sensitive Australian dollar was flat, with AUD/USD at 0.6784.
See also:
When nothing looks clear, just hold. That seems to be the guide for gold traders these days as the constant back-and-forth in U.S.-China trade negotiations continues to send signals, mostly conflicting, to the market.
Gold futures settled flat on Friday, while bullion dipped a tad after China’s President Xi Jinping said Beijing wanted a deal with the United States. But he said China will fight back if necessary against his counterpart President Donald Trump’s threat that Chinese imports will face more duties from Dec. 15 if a phase one agreement isn’t inked by then.
Trump, in latest comments, said a deal was “potentially very close.”
Gold futures for December delivery on New York’s COMEX settled at $1,463.60 per ounce, the same as Thursday.
Spot gold, which tracks live trades in bullion, was down 82 cents, or 0.1%, at $1,463.33 by 2:21 PM ET (19:21 GMT).
For the week, both benchmarks showed a modest declines of roughly 0.4%.
Gold traders have had a challenging week discerning direction due to the constantly shifting goalposts in the U.S.-China trade match. Xi said in remarks to journalists pooled by the South China Morning Post:
“We have been working actively to try not to have a trade war. We did not initiate this trade war, and this is not something we want. [My] administration also intended to “restore China’s dignity and status” and ensure the history of it being invaded and ruled by colonial powers once would “never be repeated again.”
Trump, while ambiguous on the trade war itself, chose to make bombastic comments on the ongoing strife in China’s Hong Kong territory and how the United States had prevented more casualties there – a statement almost certain to annoy Beijing. Trump told “Fox & Friends”:
“If it weren’t for me, Hong Kong would have been obliterated in 14 minutes. Xi has got a million soldiers standing outside of Hong Kong that aren’t going in, only because I ask him ‘please don’t do it, you’ll be making a big mistake. It’s going to have a tremendous negative impact on the trade deal … and he wants to make a trade deal.'”
Trump, who met Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell this week, also appeared to pressure the central bank to cut interest rates for a fourth-straight time in December. The Fed, however, said Powell did not discuss monetary policy in that meeting. TD Securities said in a note:
“Gold bugs (are) anticipating that the White House could be looking for reassurances that the Fed is ready to provide a backstop to the government should the trade war escalate.”
See also:
Oil prices snapped their two-day rally on Friday on U.S.-China angst, but still managed to finish the week higher on suggestions that OPEC+ production cuts will continue until June.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate and U.K. Brent crude settled down about 1% on the day and steady on the week.
The disparity came as traders tried to balance out China’s latest dare against U.S. tariffs with Russia’s assurance that it had its ally OPEC’s back on output reductions. Some even noted that the futures market in crude seemed to be aligning with higher physical prices — a rare occurrence indeed.
WTI settled down 81 cents, or 1.4%, at $57.77 per barrel.
Brent, the global benchmark for crude, closed the New York session down 58 cents, or 0.9%, at $63.39.
For the week, both WTI and Brent rose less than a dime each. Their yearly performance was much better, of course, with gains of 28% and 18%, respectively. ICAP (LON:NXGN) energy broker Scott Shelton said in his daily note:
“What a week. People asked me why crude was up $3 in two days and I replied with a question… why was it down over 3 days?”
Friday’s market slide came after China’s President Xi Jinping said Beijing wanted a deal with the United States, but will fight back if necessary against his counterpart Trump’s threat that Chinese imports will face more duties from Dec 15 if a phase one agreement isn’t inked by then.
Xi said in remarks to journalists pooled by the South China Morning Post:
“We have been working actively to try not to have a trade war. We did not initiate this trade war, and this is not something we want. [My] administration also intended to “restore China’s dignity and status” and ensure the history of it being invaded and ruled by colonial powers once would “never be repeated again.”
The two-month highs in oil prices earlier this week came on a Reuters report that OPEC and Russia were likely to extend existing production cuts by another three months to mid-2020 when they meet over Dec. 5-6. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself lent credence to the speculation by saying OPEC will have his country’s support – despite Moscow’s persistently falling short of its past promises to the cartel.
OPEC sources quoted by Reuters this week instead turned their attention on the need for stricter deal compliance on cuts from the likes of Iraq and Nigeria. That seems to be on top of the must-do list of OPEC’s de-facto leader Saudi Arabia, which detests the idea of having to carry most of the burden of the cartel’s pledged cuts that will weigh on the bottom line of its soon-to-listed Saudi Aramco company.
See also:
Natural Gas (No article this week)
.
