Indices achieve third weekly gain in a row though
U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, 22 August 2014 in the slowest trading day so far this year, with the S&P 500 pulling back from Thursday's record close. Market participants went into the session expecting to hear some new insight from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who delivered the keynote address at this year's Jackson Hole Symposium. Unfortunately, the speech was a disappointment to those who looked for clues about the Fed's policy course in the near term.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 38.27 points, or 0.2%, to end at 17,001.22. The Nasdaq Composite bucked the negative trend, tacking on 6.45 points, or 0.1%, to close at 4,538.55. The S&P 500 slipped by 3.97 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 1,988.40.
The three main indexes all achieved their third weekly gain in a row. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both advanced by 1.7% for the week, while the Dow rose 2%.
Investors appeared to shrug at speeches by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Stocks traded roughly flat after Yellen's speech, then slumped to session lows after fresh Ukraine-Russia reports before paring losses. The reports said NATO viewed a buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine as alarming, and the organization condemned the entry of a Russian convoy into Ukraine.
Investors across all markets parsed U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's comments on monetary policy at a meeting of the world's central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyo. On Friday, Yellen said there were no recipes to follow but warned interest rates could increase sooner than markets expected.
Ms. Yellen said the FOMC sees significant underutilization of labor resources and that the labor market has not fully recovered even when taking into account the recent gains. She also indicated that faster progress on goals could lead to a quicker rate hike, but this approach should be expected from a data-dependent central bank.
It was mixed finish for bullions on Friday, 22 August 2014 at Comex. Gold futures rose on Friday following a string of losses. The precious metal firmed after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the economy is getting closer to the Fed's goals of full employment and stable inflation. Reports of NATO's concerns over the buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine also propped up gold.
Large cap tech components traded in mixed fashion, but Apple underpinned the sector with a solid gain of 0.7%. On the earnings front, Salesforce.com rallied 7.3% in reaction to a one-cent beat.
Gold for December delivery rose $4.80 to settle at $1,280.20 an ounce. , but are still down 2%, their worst weekly decline in a month. September silver slid 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $19.39 an ounce.
Crude-oil futures ended lower on Friday, 22 August 2014 capping a week of bearish news for the commodity.
Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October slipped 31 cents, or 0.3%, to $93.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. New York-traded oil declined 1.8% on the five-day period, its fourth straight weekly loss.
Participation was well below average with fewer than 510 million shares changing hands at the NYSE, which made for one of the quietest sessions of the year.
There was no economic data reported on Friday and Monday's data will be limited to the New Home Sales report for July (consensus 427,000).
Next week, holidays could help keep trading volumes at low summertime levels. Monday is a holiday in the U.K., and by the end of next week, many traders in the U.S. may be mostly focused on the Labor Day weekend.
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