YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: An afternoon descent dashed gains and left
stocks to settle at session lows. Still, the S&P 500 was able to cling to a
fractional gain after logging losses in the two previous sessions.
The broad market measure also booked its first weekly gain, 0.6%,
in three weeks. Market participants were without domestic data today. That left
traders to focus on action in
Despite mixed overnight action in Asia that left Japan's Nikkei to
end the week down nearly 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng
to advance by about 1.5%, Europe's major bourses put together strong gains on
the back of a surprisingly strong IFO business climate survey from Germany.
Strong retail sales numbers were also reported by the
Strong earnings reports from a broad range of industry players
provided a positive backdrop to early trade. Blue chips McDonald's (MCD 95.94, +0.66) and General Electric (GE 19.36, +0.22)
both performed well because of a positive response to their latest quarterly
announcements. Microsoft (MSFT
32.42, +1.41) put together an impressive performance, but the stock's strength
wasn't enough to offset weakness in Apple
(AAPL 572.98, -14.46), which boasts a market cap that is about
double that of MSFT. Shares of AAPL also carry the greatest weight of any stock
in either the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq.
Tech stocks, which settled the day down 0.5%, were joined in
negative territory by Financials, which also fell 0.5%. Arguably the two most
influential sectors, both lagged for virtually the
entire session. Their weakness ultimately dragged down the broader market in
afternoon trade.
Still, many defensive-oriented stocks managed to maintain most of
their gains. Consumer Staples scored a 0.9% gain, while Utilities advanced 1.0%
and Telecom laid claim to a 0.7% gain.
The dollar ran into some rather stiff selling that left it to lose
0.5% against a basket of major foreign currencies. It fell about 0.9% for the
week. Most of that downturn was due to renewed strength in the euro, which
climbed 0.6% on Friday to about $1.32. That helped fuel a 1.1% weekly gain.
Despite weakness in the dollar, commodities had another negative
week that saw the CRB Index fall 0.5% for the week. The CRB has suffered five
consecutive weekly losses for a cumulative decline of about 5%.
The expiration of monthly options helped take share volume on the
NYSE to almost 1 billion, which is well above average levels of the past
several months.
The CRB Index booked a 0.6% gain, but that couldn't prevent a 0.5%
weekly loss. The CRB has suffered five consecutive weekly losses for a
cumulative decline of about 5%.
Crude oil was in positive territory for all of pit trade. A session
high of $104.68 per barrel was set in morning activity. The energy component
was able to regain some steam in the last half hour of pit trade, which helped
it book a 1.0% weekly gain as it closed at $103.83 per barrel. Although news
this week did not have a big impact on crude's overall direction, it is worth
mentioning that earlier reports indicated Iran came to an agreement to discuss
nuclear talks again in May. Also, the House approved the Keystone XL Pipeline
project after pit trade had closed Wednesday afternoon.
Natural gas got its first gain since Monday by closing floor trade
at $1.92 per MMBtu, but the string of recent losses
resulted in a 3.0% weekly loss. A new 10-year low of $1.90 per MMBtu was set only yesterday, despite bullish inventory
data.
Gold prices set a session high of $1647.40 per ounce in morning pit
trade, but gave up the gain shortly thereafter. The yellow metal attempted to
recover from the downturn, but lost momentum in the last half hour of floor
trade. That left it to settle at with a fractional gain at $1643.00 per ounce,
or 1% below last week's close. Silver spent the majority of floor trade in
negative territory and set a session low of $31.54 per ounce. Despite closing
today's pit session fractionally lower, it finished the week with a 0.8% gain
at $31.68 per ounce.
Advancing Sectors:
Utilities +1.0%, Consumer Staples +0.9%, Industrials +0.8%, Telecom +0.7%,
Health Care +0.5%, Consumer Discretionary +0.2%, Materials +0.1%
Declining Sectors:
Energy -0.1%, Financials -0.5%, Tech -0.5%DJ30 +65.16 NASDAQ -7.11 NQ100 -0.4%
R2K +0.6% SP400 +0.3% SP500 +1.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec
1499/1.90 bln/1010 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1973/965 mln/1040