Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.67%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Technology and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.67%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.44%.
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 Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.56% or 8.48 points to trade at 339.33 at the close. Meanwhile, Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) added 1.90% or 1.16 points to end at 62.09 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 1.90% or 2.80 points to 150.17 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which fell 5.35% or 3.35 points to trade at 59.22 at the close. Honeywell International Inc (NYSE:HON) declined 2.07% or 4.75 points to end at 224.51 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was down 1.94% or 2.85 points to 144.31.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) which rose 8.71% to 564.21, Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was up 7.72% to settle at 9.91 and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which gained 6.03% to close at 89.15.
The worst performers were Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB) which was down 5.86% to 132.10 in late trade, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) which lost 5.35% to settle at 59.22 and Clorox Co (NYSE:CLX) which was down 3.35% to 188.53 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Sypris Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SYPR) which rose 56.94% to 4.4100, Uxin Ltd (NASDAQ:UXIN) which was up 56.62% to settle at 2.130 and Microvision Inc (NASDAQ:MVIS) which gained 36.76% to close at 17.9700.
The worst performers were Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INO) which was down 24.97% to 6.85 in late trade, Protara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TARA) which lost 17.87% to settle at 12.27 and Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:AXAS) which was down 14.58% to 2.0500 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2401 to 630 and 97 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2372 rose and 789 declined, while 103 ended unchanged.
Shares in SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) rose to all time highs; up 8.71% or 45.22 to 564.21. Shares in Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) rose to 52-week highs; rising 7.72% or 0.71 to 9.91. Shares in Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) rose to all time highs; gaining 6.03% or 5.07 to 89.15. Shares in Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INO) fell to 52-week lows; down 24.97% or 2.28 to 6.85. Shares in Uxin Ltd (NASDAQ:UXIN) rose to 52-week highs; up 56.62% or 0.770 to 2.130. Shares in Protara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TARA) fell to 52-week lows; down 17.87% or 2.67 to 12.27.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.38% to 17.33.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.31% or 5.55 to $1776.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.17% or 0.72 to hit $62.15 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.07% or 0.70 to trade at $66.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.68% to 1.2096, while USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 107.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.57% at 90.800.
Dow Climbs Ahead of Busiest Earnings Week as Financials, Tech Rally
Dow Jumps as Bulls Shrug Off Tax Hike Jitters, Swoop in on Financials, Tech
European Stocks Edge Lower; Daimler Lifts Its Profit Outlook
Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.08%
Asian Stocks Up, Investors Digest Potential U.S. Tax Hikes (Thursday)
The dollar weakened in early European trading Friday, sticking to narrow ranges as traders turn their attention onto next week’s Federal Reserve meeting following the conclusion of the European Central Bank get-together.
At 2:55 AM ET (0755 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was 0.2% lower at 91.155, remaining just above the seven-week low of 90.856 seen on Tuesday.
USD/JPY was flat at 107.95, the risk-sensitive AUD/USD rose 0.3% to 0.7728, while EUR/USD traded up 0.1% at 1.2024, recovering after minor falls Thursday on the conclusion of the ECB meeting.
The European Central Bank maintained its very accommodative policies at its latest meeting Thursday, and President Christine Lagarde shut down expectations that the central bank will start to consider tapering its bond purchases even while predicting a robust recovery for the region in the second half of the year.
“The focus now turns to the expected improvement in Eurozone data, which should help to push the undervalued EUR/USD higher this quarter,” said analysts at ING, in a note.
Some of this data is due later Friday, with French and German PMI numbers for April expected to show improving sentiment throughout the region.
Also of interest will be the Federal Reserve meeting next week, with the U.S. central bank expected to keep its current policy largely unchanged on April 28.
Investors will be looking more for any comments about scaling back monetary easing in the future from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, although he is likely to take a leaf out of Lagarde’s playbook and warn against expecting the tapering of bond purchases anytime soon.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD rose 0.2% to 1.3858, helped by evidence of a recovery in the U.K. economy.
U.K. retail sales surged more than expected to levels higher than before the coronavirus pandemic struck, even with most shops still closed, rising 5.4% in March from the month before, double the gain of the previous month.
Britain also recorded a 28 billion-pound ($39 billion) budget deficit in March, a shortfall for 2020-21 as a whole of 303.1 billion pounds, the largest budget deficit in peacetime history. As large as this figure is, it’s still smaller than the 327.4 billion pounds predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility last month.
USD/RUB fell 1.7% to 75.352, as Russia started to pull its troops back from the Ukrainian border, reducing the apparent likelihood of a fresh invasion of its western neighbor. Russia’s central bank is also set to meet later Friday, and many analysts expect it to raise its key interest rate to try and restrain rising inflation.
Russia’s consumer price index rose 5.8% in March in year-on-year terms, its highest reading in nearly five years, something that President Vladimir Putin touched on in his annual address to the nation on Wednesday.
See also:
Gold ended the week uneventfully despite coming precariously close to the $1,800 level that would have been key for it to recapture last year’s highs.
Benchmark gold futures on New York’s Comex hit a nine-week high of $1,796.15 an ounce in Friday’s early trade, coming less than $4 from cracking the $1,800 resistance.
The metal, however, could not sustain the upward momentum and settled the session down $4.20, or 0.2%, at $1,777.80 an ounce, extending the 0.6% drop seen on Thursday.
The combined two-day loss left Comex gold’s front-month down 0.1% on the week as it finished below last Friday’s close of $1,779.
The spot price of gold rose to as high as $1,795.94, before trading at just above $1,776 by 3:45 PM ET (19:45 GMT). Moves in spot gold are integral to fund managers, who sometimes rely more on it than futures for direction.
It was a crushing disappointment for longs in the yellow metal who had been counting on a more meaningful advance after repeatedly approaching the $1,800 resistance this week. The last time Comex gold traded above that level was on Feb. 25.
With the Federal Reserve’s monthly meeting due next Wednesday, analysts said gold prices were likely to drift without substantive guidance from the U.S. central bank.
“Dampening demand for safe-havens has capped the rally in gold,” said Ed Moya, analyst at New York’s OANDA. “Gold prices will likely consolidate leading up to the Fed between $1,760 and $1,800.”
See also:
Oil prices ended the week down about 1% percent or more, reacting to contrasting supply-demand concerns ahead of the monthly meeting of producers cartel OPEC+.
Futures of both U.S. crude and U.K.’s Brent oil rose for a second day in a row on Friday but not enough to offset their dismal start to the week.
Oil prices fell as much as 3% between Tuesday and Wednesday on worries about an explosion of Covid cases in India and Japan, and talk that Iran may win a nuclear deal by May that would effectively remove U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic and allow it to put some two million additional barrels a day on the market.
Some of those supply-demand concerns eased in the last two days of the week, allowing prices to rise less than 2% combined.
“Gains in oil are likely to remain capped until India and Japan, as the third and fourth-largest oil consumers, turn a corner in their battle against the virus,” said Sophie Griffiths, head of UK and EMEA research for online broker OANDA.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled Friday’s trade at $62.14 a barrel, up 71 cents, or 1.2%, on the day. It fell 1.6% on the week.
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for crude, settled at $66.11, up 71 cents, or 1.1%, for the session. For the week, it fell 1%.
The volatility came ahead of the April 28 OPEC+ meeting, where the cartel is expected to mull again on how much to produce in the coming months.
The 23-member OPEC+ comprises the original 13 members of OPEC, or the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and 10 other oil producing nations steered by Russia. The group announced early this month its first meaningful production hike in a year, after withholding at least seven million barrels per day in output since April 2020.
In its April 1 announcement, OPEC+ said it will pump an additional 350,000 barrels per day in May and June, and a further 400,000 barrels daily in July.
It is not known if it will proceed with those plans now, especially with reports that Iran might get a nuclear deal by May.
Oil prices fell to historic negative pricing of minus $40 per barrel in April 2020 at the height of the demand destruction caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Production cuts since then by OPEC+ have brought the market back, with the rebound accelerating after vaccine breakthroughs for the virus in November.
See also:
Natural Gas Prices Jump On Smaller-Than-Expected U.S. Inventory Build
The U.S. benchmark natural gas price reversed losses from earlier on Thursday and turned higher after the Energy Information Administration reported a smaller-than-forecast injection into storage.
As of 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, the price of natural gas at Henry Hub was up by 2.34 percent at $2.754/ MMBtu. At the start of trading on Thursday, the price was at $2.688/ MMBtu, down from Wednesday’s close at $2.776/ MMBtu.
The EIA’s weekly natural gas storage report showed today that working gas in storage was 1,883 billion cubic feet (Bcf) at the end of the week to April 16. This represents a net increase of 38 Bcf from the previous week.
A Reuters poll had expected an injection of 49 bcf for the week to April 16, which would have been higher than normal.
The actual EIA estimate, however, came in very close to the five-year (2016-2020) average injection of 37 bcf.
As per the EIA data, natural gas stocks in the United States at the end of the week to April 16 were 251 Bcf less than last year at this time and 12 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,871 Bcf.
At 1,883 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
Natural gas prices were also up on Thursday amid continued record exports of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) out of America, as well as cooler weather forecasts for the coming days, which is expected to drive heating demand higher.
“A strong late season cold shot continues to impact the eastern 2/3 of the country with rain, snow, and chilly lows of 20s to 40s for strong national demand, coldest over the N. Plains/Midwest, and interior Northeast,” Natgasweather.com said on Thursday. Overall, demand for heating is expected to be high through Sunday-Monday, and turn low after that.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
.
