US stocks end volatile week on a positive note

Nasdaq posts its biggest weekly fall in four weeks

U.S. stocks ended a volatile week on a positive note on Friday, 09 May 2014, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a record close while the Nasdaq Composite posted its biggest weekly fall in four weeks as investors continued to dump tech shares and small-cap stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a choppy session up 32.37 points, or 0.2%, at 16,583.34. The blue-chip index saw a weekly rise of 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 20.37 points, or 0.5%, to end at 4,071.87, which still left the index with a 1.3% weekly decline. The S&P 500 rose 2.85 points, or 0.2%, to 1,878.48, trimming its weekly decline to 0.1%.

On a sectoral basis, consumer discretionary, health care and technology sectors fueled the market-wide bounce. The financial sector remained among the laggards.

Economic data at Wall Street was limited to the Wholesale Inventories report for March and the March Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Wholesale inventories increased 1.1% in March after increasing an upwardly revised 0.7% (from 0.5%) in February, while the consensus expected an increase of 1.0%. Separately, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for March indicated job openings decreased to 4.014 million from 4.173 million.

Among tech stocks, Facebook, Netflix, LinkedIn and Priceline.com gave a boost to the overall risk sentiment.

Apple ended the day down 0.4% following reports late Thursday that it's in talks to buy Beats Electronics for about $3.2 billion. Beats sells premium-sound headphones and speakers, and just launched a music-subscription service that could bolster Apple's presence in that market.

Bullion prices ended lower on Friday, 09 May 2014. Gold futures settled lower on Friday for a fourth session in a row, holding their ground below the key $1,300 level and marking a weekly loss of more than 1%. Upbeat comments on the economy from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen this week contributed to gold's losses, amid turmoil in Ukraine.

June gold futures fell 10 cents to settle at $1,287.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices lost roughly 1.2% for the week, their first weekly loss in three. July silver futures fell nearly 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $19.12 an ounce, ending around 2.2% lower than the week-ago close.

Crude oil futures saw a modest loss on Friday, 09 May 2014 to settle back below $100 a barrel, pressured in part by a stronger U.S. dollar, but prices still scored a weekly gain on the back of ongoing uncertainty in Ukraine.

Crude oil for June delivery fell 27 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $99.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices, tracking the most-active contracts, ended the week around 0.2% higher.

Treasuries surrendered their overnight gains ahead of the open and spent the remainder of the session anchored to their flat lines. The 10-yr yield ended at 2.62%.

Today's participation was below average as less than 640 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Indian ADRs ended higher on Friday. Among the banking name, ICICI Bank surged 8.74% at $48.50 and HDFC Bank gained 4.76% at $43.80. In the IT space, Infosys jumped 2.08% at $52.48 and Wipro added 1.63% at $11.88. Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 0.66% at $45.54 and Tata Motors gained 0.42% at $38.44.

On Monday, the Treasury Budget for April will be released at 14:00 ET. Also of note, Ukraine's regions of Donetsk and Lugansk remain scheduled for independence referendums on Sunday.

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