YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks were up nicely a few days ago, but
fell in the last three sessions to finish the week at a low point, giving the
S&P 500 a 2.4% weekly loss -- its worst weekly performance of the year. The
sell-off on Friday followed a disappointing jobs report and concerted selling of
the market's most influential sectors.
Premarket participants initially had only a modestly negative
response to the April payrolls report, which inidcated
that nonfarm jobs increased by 115,000 and nonfarm private payrolls increased
by 130,000. However, both came short of Briefing.com consensus estimates for
increases of 162,000 and 167,000, respectively. The headline unemployment rate
of 8.1% was slightly less than the 8.2% that had been broadly anticipated,
though.
A flurry of selling sank stocks upon the open. The effort gradually
gained momentum into early afternoon trade, leaving stocks to drift along
session lows for the final few hours of the day. Weakness was widespread, but
Energy and Tech stocks were hit the hardest. Both settled with losses in excess
of 2%. Financials fell 1.6%.
Utilities stocks made gains in the face of broad market weakness.
The defensive-oriented sector's 0.2% gain was helped along by a few
better-than-expected earnings reports from industry players -- the latest round
of earnings results was generally uninspiring, however.
An interest in safety prompted some to rotate into the dollar,
which advanced 0.3% against a basket of major forein
currencies today. It gained about 1.0% for the week.
Treasuries also traded higher. In turn, the yield on the benchmark
10-year Note fell to a three-month low of less than 1.90%.
Precious metals attracted buyers, gaining their only gain of the
week. Losses in previous sessions ultimately led gold and silver to finish the
week 1.2% lower at $1645.40 per ounce and 3.1% lower at $31.42 per ounce,
respectively.
Elsewhere in the commodity complex, crude oil prices were cut down
aggressively. The energy component closed pit trade at a new three-month low of
$98.49 per barrel with a 6.1% loss for the week. Broad market weakness amid
macro concerns and reports that oil production in
Although it was learned yesterday that initial weekly jobless claims
fell more than expected from the prior week to 365,000, market participants
were given a clue on Wednesday that April private payrolls might not have been
as strong as economists had predicted when the latest ADP Employment Report
suggested that nonfarm private payrolls increased by only 119,000, contrasting
with calls for an increase of 170,000.
Other data failed to provide an entirely positive picture, given
that the ISM Manufacturing Index made surprise improvement to 54.8 from 53.4 in
the prior month, but the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index fell from 56.0 in the
prior month to 53.5 for April, missing expectations for a print of 55.5. China
reported a Manufacturing PMI reading of 53.3, which is its best reading in
about one year, but it is still less than what had been widely expected. Most
of
Broad market weakness following a disappointing payrolls report and
reports that oil production in Iraq is expected to pick up have exacerbated
selling pressure on crude oil. The energy component traded deeper into negative
territory to settle the week 6.1% lower at a new three-month low of $98.49 per
barrel. Natural gas also sold off into negative territory and was unable to
recover losses. However, despite today’s decline, it finished the week
with a 4.6% gain at $2.28 per MMBtu, or 14% higher
from a recent low set on April 19.
Precious metals rallied in morning pit trade following the same
report. Although they ran out of steam mid-day and dropped to the unchanged
line, both gold and silver were able to reclaim their gains and close in
positive territory for the first time this week. Losses in previous sessions
ultimately led gold and silver to finish the week 1.2% lower at $1645.40 per
ounce and 3.1% lower at $31.42 per ounce, respectively. Action in the metals
earlier this week coincided with a rally by the dollar in response to positive
ISM data and with a disappointing ADP Employment Report.
Personal spending increased by 0.3% during March, but that's a
slower clip than the 0.5% increase that had been expected, on average, among economists
polled by Briefing.com. The smaller-than-expected increase came despite a
stronger-than-expected pickup in personal income, which increased by 0.4% when
a 0.2% increase had been widely anticipated. As for core personal consumption
expenditures (PCE), they increased by 0.2% month over
month, as had been broadly expected. DJ30 -168.32 NASDAQ -67.96 NQ100 -2.5% R2K
-1.8% SP400 -1.6% SP500 -22.47 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec
501/1.93 bln/2017 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 733/825 mln/2282