Written by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.68%
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Utilities and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.68% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 1.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.04%.
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The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), which rose 2.00% or 4.88 points to trade at 249.02 at the close. Meanwhile, Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 1.89% or 6.16 points to end at 332.82 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.76% or 4.21 points to 242.88 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which fell 5.29% or 2.96 points to trade at 53.00 at the close. Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) declined 1.51% or 3.52 points to end at 229.22 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was down 0.63% or 0.38 points to 60.10.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Robert Half International Inc (NYSE:RHI) which rose 7.41% to 92.91, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) which was up 5.26% to settle at 369.65 and DR Horton Inc (NYSE:DHI) which gained 4.42% to close at 93.60.
The worst performers were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) which was down 5.29% to 53.00 in late trade, VeriSign Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) which lost 4.74% to settle at 222.47 and TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE:FTI) which was down 4.14% to 6.940 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were NanoVibronix Inc (NASDAQ:NAOV) which rose 245.47% to 2.5900, Big Rock Partners Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:NRXP) which was up 59.51% to settle at 26.24 and Socket Mobile Inc (NASDAQ:SCKT) which gained 43.28% to close at 8.310.
The worst performers were Sentage Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SNTG) which was down 44.11% to 6.46 in late trade, RISE Education Cayman Ltd (NASDAQ:REDU) which lost 40.53% to settle at 1.350 and 17 Education Technology Group Inc (NASDAQ:YQ) which was down 38.70% to 1.410 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1928 to 1243 and 111 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1829 fell and 1616 advanced, while 130 ended unchanged.
Shares in Robert Half International Inc (NYSE:RHI) rose to all time highs; gaining 7.41% or 6.41 to 92.91. Shares in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) rose to all time highs; gaining 5.26% or 18.46 to 369.65. Shares in Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) rose to all time highs; up 2.00% or 4.88 to 249.02. Shares in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) rose to all time highs; gaining 1.76% or 4.21 to 242.88. Shares in NanoVibronix Inc (NASDAQ:NAOV) rose to 52-week highs; rising 245.47% or 1.8403 to 2.5900. Shares in Sentage Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SNTG) fell to all time lows; down 44.11% or 5.09 to 6.46. Shares in RISE Education Cayman Ltd (NASDAQ:REDU) fell to all time lows; losing 40.53% or 0.920 to 1.350. Shares in 17 Education Technology Group Inc (NASDAQ:YQ) fell to all time lows; losing 38.70% or 0.890 to 1.410.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.77% to 17.20.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.20% or 3.65 to $1801.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.24% or 0.17 to hit $72.08 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.47% or 0.35 to trade at $74.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1775, while USD/JPY rose 0.37% to 110.55.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 92.888.
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Wall Street Opens Higher as Social Media Lifts Market; Dow Tops 35k
The dollar ended flat Friday, but traders are warming up to the idea of that greenback’s run higher is here to stay, as bets on the world’s reserve currency turned positive for the first time since the pandemic began.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.06% to 92.885. Earlier this week, the greenback rose to 93.195, a nearly four-month high.
The value of the net long dollar position was $399.69 million in the week ended July 20, the first long position since March 2020, compared with a net short of $4.06 billion the previous week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
A patient Fed and a further recovery in the global economy – two key ingredients for the bearish thesis on the dollar – have come under pressure in the recently, helping to shift sentiment on the greenback.
“The combination of a less dovish Fed and the Delta Variant has certainly hit portfolio flows to emerging markets, which have been negative in five out of the last six weeks,” ING said in a note earlier this week. “This has certainly provided support to the dollar. It is hard to see this trend turning in the immediate future.”
The Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting is just days away, and could provide further runway for the dollar to advance.
While there aren’t many on Wall Street betting for a surprise change in monetary policy, further clues from the Fed on trimming its bond-purchases is expected to make a positive impact on the dollar.
“Assuming that the Fed continues to dangle the carrot of a September tapering and the global growth environment remains mixed at best, we suspect the dollar can retain its gains, if not edge higher,” ING added.
Further commentary on tapering could also set the stage of the rally in Treasury yields, which have steadied since dropping below 1.14% earlier this week.
“Our strategists think the July FOMC could be an important catalyst for higher yields. An upbeat assessment of the economy from the Fed and continued discussion of tapering could ring hawkish to the market, especially given the benign pace of hikes priced in,” Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said in a note.
See also:
- Dollar on Back Foot Ahead of ECB Meeting (Thursday)
Gold longs, clinging by their nails to $1,800 territory, saw the yellow metal’s first weekly loss in five as it remained disconnected from expectations of steady inflation in the United States.
A volatile week in risk markets which culminated in outsized gains for stocks also left safe havens such as gold sidelined.
“Gold is softer as risk appetite runs wild, with the S&P 500 index making a fresh intraday record high following robust earnings and as Treasury yields appear poised to close near this week’s high,” noted Ed Moya, head of research for the Americas at broker OANDA.
Front-month gold futures on New York’s Comex settled down $3.60, or 0.2%, at $1,801.80 an ounce.
For the week, it slid 0.8%, after gaining 2.6% over four previous weeks.
Gold is also having an uncertain week due to the blackout period for speeches by Federal Reserve officials ahead the central bank’s policy meeting on July 27 and 28.
Conviction has become a rare commodity in gold as the average long investor tried to stay true to the yellow metal through its travails of the past six months.
Since January, gold has been on a tough ride that actually began in August last year – when it came off record highs above $2,000 and meandered for a few months before stumbling into a systemic decay from November, when the first breakthroughs in Covid-19 vaccine efficiencies were announced. At one point, gold raked a near 11-month bottom at under $1,674.
After appearing to break that dark spell with a bounce back to $1,905 in May, gold saw a new round of short-selling that took it back to $1,800 levels before talk of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve knocked it even lower to mid-$1,700 levels.
For the record, the Fed has indicated that it expects two hikes before 2023 that will bring interest rates within a range of 0.5% to 0.75% from a current pandemic-era super-low of zero to 0.25%. It has not set a timetable for the tapering or complete freeze of the $120 billion in bonds and other assets it has been buying since March 2020 to support the economy through the Covid crisis.
Also, somewhat lost in the whole transition is gold’s position as a hedge against inflation despite trillions of dollars of government spending since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, meanwhile, grew by a multi-year high of 3.4 percent in the 12 months to May.
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Oil managed to eke out a gain after starting the week with the worst tumble in 16 months, leaving longs in the market shaken but unscathed.
What oil bulls need to hope for in coming weeks is that the consumption of U.S. gasoline does not let up in a significant way that will allow reports of Covid cases emerging from the Delta variant to usurp the demand narrative for crude.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark for U.S. oil, settled up 16 cents, or 0.2%, at $72.07 per barrel. For the week, WTI lost 0.4
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, settled up 31 cents, or 0.4%, at $74.10. For the week, Brent rose 0.7%.
WTI’s 7% plunge on Monday was the first rude awakening in two months for longs in the market, who in that period managed to push prices up by 25% on the back OPEC+’s success in clearing the crude glut from the pandemic to create so-called tight oil – or supplies at or just below five-year seasonal levels.
The 23-nation OPEC+ – which groups the 13 member Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with 10 other oil producers led by Russia – said last week it will raise supply by 2 million barrels from August through December.
While it was the first major production increase by a group that had previously cut 10 million barrels a day at the height of the pandemic, the OPEC+ manoeuvre still rattled investors amid a risk aversion on Monday that hit stock markets and almost every other risk asset.
“We need to realize that much of the oil demand that’s being touted is now held up by one thing: U.S. gasoline,” said John Kilduff, founding partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. “Unless jet fuel takes off in a big way again from the restart of global travel, the demand picture could be more implied than real. If gasoline, for any reason, doesn’t perform as expected, oil could have a real problem then.”
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Natural Gas (Hellenic Shipping News)
US working natural gas volumes in underground storage increase 55 Bcf: EIA
The natural gas injection into US storage fields in the week ended July 16 measured 12 Bcf more than the five-year average, but upcoming builds look more in line with historical norms as the Henry Hub winter strip surpasses $4/MMBtu, which is $1.35 more than this time last July.
Working gas in storage increased by 49 Bcf to 2.678 Tcf for the week, the US Energy Information Administration reported July 22. It was more than the 43 Bcf addition expected by an S&P Global Platts’ survey of analysts. It also outgained the five-year average build of 36 Bcf and last year’s 38 Bcf injection in the corresponding week.
Storage volumes now stand 532 Bcf, or 16.6%, less than the year-ago level of 3.210 Tcf and 176 Bcf, or 6.2%, less than the five-year average of 2.854 Tcf. The build was less than the 55 Bcf injection reported for the week prior as demand increases outpaced those in supply.
Total US demand averaged roughly 2.2 Bcf/d higher week over week, according to Platts Analytics. Gas-fired power demand grew across multiple regions, most notably in the US Southwest where burns increased by nearly 1 Bcf/d week over week.
The NYMEX Henry Hub August contract added 2 cents to $3.98/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report. The balance-of-summer averaged $3.97, which is only 5 cents less than the winter strip, providing little to no incentive to inject. November through March are up 1.6 cents/MMBtu for an average $4.02/MMBtu. This time last year, when storage measured 436 Bcf more than the five-year average, the winter strip was $2.65/MMBtu and 90 cents above the balance of summer.
The EIA’s Pacific region posted a net withdrawal of 3 Bcf for the week. This reflected the heat wave impacting California and other Western states, while the eastern half of the US was more temperate.
Storage injections in the EIA’s Pacific region have lagged behind typical levels this summer, as operators struggle to meet elevated demand while maintaining steady injections. Pacific storage activity trended bearish relative to the five-year average in April and May, adding 71 Bcf versus 63 Bcf during the shoulder season. The arrival of hot weather reversed that, with June and July injecting 16 Bcf in 2021 versus the five-year average of 24 Bcf over the same period.
Platts Analytics’ supply and demand model currently forecasts a 33 Bcf injection for the week ending July 23, which would measure 5 Bcf more than the five-year average. Fundamentals this week have tightened further, but to a lesser degree, as demand has risen by around 400 MMcf/d while supplies fell 300 MMcf/d. The following week shows a 27 Bcf addition compared to the five-year average injection of 30 Bcf.
From last week:
Platts Analytics’ supply-and-demand model currently forecasts a 38 Bcf injection for the week ending July 16, which would measure only 2 Bcf more than the five-year average, doing little to erase the deficit as the injection season nears the halfway point.
Midwest injections have increased by 2.5 Bcf while East injections fell by a similar amount for the week ending July 16. The largest change has come from the Pacific region, where pipeline sample data indicate a possible flip to a net withdrawal, likely the result of sustained, hotter-than-normal weather affecting the West Coast.
Source: Platts
See also:
- Summer U.S. natural gas prices are the highest since 2014 (Hellenic Shipping News, Thursday)
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