Markets |
Wall Street
ends volatile week on high note as tech leads
DJ: 17,500.94 +65.54 NAS: 4,769.56
+57.03 S&P: 2,052.32
+12.28
REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID
Wall Street rallied on Friday, led by
tech stocks on the back of Applied Materials' strong profit forecast, ending a
volatile week on a positive note. The S&P 500 eked out gains for the
week after three straight weeks of losses, while the Nasdaq snapped a four-week
losing streak. Despite gains on Friday, the Dow ended its fourth consecutive
week in the red.
The tech sector .SPLRCT led the
way on Friday, lifted by a higher-than-expected profit forecast from chip
company Applied Materials (AMAT.O),
which jumped 13.8 percent. Apple (AAPL.O) rose
1.1 percent and the shares snapped a four-week losing streak.
"The tech sector, which is
pretty big, is having a pretty good day, led by the Applied Materials
earnings," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in
Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Federal Reserve surprised
investors when the central bank's minutes, released on Wednesday, opened the
door to a rate increase in June, roiling financial markets.
Traders now give a 30-percent
chance of a rate hike at the Fed's June meeting, according to the CME FedWatch
tool, about twice as high as they expected on Tuesday. "The market is starting to come to grips with the Fed
potentially moving in June," said Walter Todd, chief investment
officer at Greenwood Capital Associates in Greenwood, South Carolina. "I
think it’s potentially a
positive dynamic if the market can actually go up in the face of the Fed
probability going up."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 65.54 points, or 0.38 percent, to
17,500.94, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 12.28 points, or 0.6 percent, to
2,052.32 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC added 57.03 points, or 1.21 percent, to
4,769.56. Nine of ten S&P sectors
ended higher.
The S&P is marginally
positive for 2016. The benchmark index has rebounded some 13 percent off of
February lows, but is little changed in recent weeks amid mixed corporate
earnings and economic data.
Data on Friday showed U.S. home resales rose more than
expected in April, suggesting the economy continues to gather pace during the
second quarter.
Economic data will garner most of the attention next week, with investors
placing a heavy weight on a host of reports as they try and determine the likelihood of a
June rate hike.
In other corporate results,
Deere (DE.N)
shares fell 5.5 percent to $77.74. The farm equipment maker cut its profit
outlook further and reported lower quarterly earnings.
Advancing issues outnumbered
declining ones on the NYSE by 2,447 to 580, for a 4.22-to-1 ratio on the
upside; on the Nasdaq, 2,151 issues rose and 667 fell for a 3.22-to-1 ratio
favoring advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 14 new
52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 31 new lows.
Note: a 2nd
day with no volume data. Per BATS, 6.7 billion shares traded.
No comments:
Post a Comment