US stocks manage to end higher

Investors shrug off lackluster corporate earnings and mixed economic data

U.S. stocks ended a choppy session slightly higher on Friday, 16 October 2015 posting a third consecutive week of gains as investors appeared to shrug off lackluster corporate earnings and mixed economic data. Overall, the Friday affair was pretty uneventful as the S&P 500 spent the bulk of the day in a ten-point range, climbing to a new high during the final hour. Four sectors settled ahead of the S&P 500 while the remaining six ended in-line with or behind the benchmark index.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 74.09 points, or 0.4%, to settle at 17,215.84, and booked a 0.8% weekly gain. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 16.59 points, or 0.3%, at 4,886.69 and gained 1.2% over the week. The S&P 500 switched between small gains and losses, but managed to close higher, rising 9.21 points, or 0.5%, to 2,033.07. The benchmark index gained 0.9% over the week, with most of the gains concentrated in defensive sectors such as utilities, health-care and telecoms.

Nike, and Exxon Mobil were the top gainers over the week, rising more than 4%. Wal-Mart Stores, plunged 12% over the week, most of the losses coming after disappointing quarterly results.

On Friday, consumer staples and health care settled in the lead with the health care space holding up well despite an intraday swoon in biotechnology.

Top-weighted sector component General Electric spiked 3.4% after reporting operating earnings of $0.32/share, which may not compare to estimates as the company continues divesting GE capital assets, but that strength could not offset broad weakness among transport stocks.

Similar to stocks, Treasuries drifted inside narrow ranges, but unlike equities, the 10-yr note settled on its low with the benchmark yield rising two basis points to 2.03%.

Despite the quiet intraday action, more than 900 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor with options expiration boosting the final tally.

Economic data at Wall Sytreet showed that industrial production declined 0.2% in September after declining an upwardly revised 0.1% (from -0.4%) in August while the consensus expected a drop of 0.2%. Manufacturing production declined for a second consecutive month and for a third time over the past four months. Production fell 0.1% in September after declining 0.4% in August. The decline in manufacturing production was the result of a 0.1% decline in durable goods production. Despite lower output in the petroleum sector, nondurable goods production was flat in September.

Separately, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 92.1 in the preliminary October reading from 87.2 in September while the consensus expected an increase to 88.4. The Current Conditions Index increased to 106.7 in October from 101.2 in September while the Expectations Index increased to 82.7 from 78.2. Also, the August Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings decreased to 5.370 million from 5.668 million.

Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Friday, 16 October 2015. Gold futures on Friday suffered from their first decline in six sessions, giving up a year-to-date advance, as some strength in the U.S. dollar helped to pull investment interest away from the precious metal.

Gold for December delivery lost $4.40, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,183.10 an ounce on Comex, with prices now down about $1 year to date. But prices still scored a gain of roughly 2.4% for the week, after reaching a four-month closing high on Thursday. Silver for December fell 5 cents, or 0.3%, to $16.114 an ounceabout 1.9% higher for the week.

Crude oil futures finished higher on Friday, 16 October 2015 with prices recovering some losses in the wake of a four-session decline, but losing almost 5% for the week as a glut of supplies showed no real signs of abating. Expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold a meeting next week, ahead of its official summit in December, offered a glimmer of hope that the oil-producer group will take some sort of action to alleviate the market's oversupply.

November West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $47.26 a barrel, up 88 cents, or 1.9%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It settled at a nearly two-week low on Thursday and saw a loss of roughly 4.8% on the week.

Monday's data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the NAHB Housing Market Index for October (consensus 62).

Powered by Capital Market - Live News