The S&P 500 has had a rough ride in the last few weeks, following underwhelming corporate earnings, mixed economic data and uncertainty regarding the trajectory of rate hikes.
Advertisement
Six of the S&P 500’s sectors fell, led by a 0.95 per cent loss in industrials.
The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 31 new lows.
The Nasdaq was holding onto a 0.4% gain, but the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 erased early gains in the stock market today.
Minutes of the Fed’s April meeting, released on Wednesday, caught the market by surprise as they showed that most policymakers thought a June rate hike was appropriate, given continued improvement in the US economy.
The tech sector led the way on Friday, lifted by a higher-than-expected profit forecast from chip company Applied Materials, which jumped 13.8 per cent.
In a new blow to Wall Street’s confidence, New York Fed President William Dudley said the US economy could be strong enough to warrant a rate increase in June.
Another big gainer for the day, Interoil, jumped $11.92, or 38 percent, to $43.57 after rival Oil Search announced a deal to buy the company for $2.2 billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,373 to 618, for a 3.84-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 2,191 issues rose and 593 fell for a 3.69-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.
Campbell Soup was down 6.4 percent at $59.83 after the company reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales. After earlier being down about 1%, or almost 200 points, the Dow was down 91 points near 2:23 p.m. ET.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 0.7 per cent at the close.
While gains in banks pushed the Stoxx 600 to its highest level since May 2 on Wednesday, the gauge has still gone a month without posting a daily gain of at least 1 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.1% to $48.74 per barrel in NY. Three-month tin shed 1.6 per cent to $US16,510 from an earlier $US16,490, the lowest since April 7.
On the economy front, sales of previously-owned homes rose in April, continuing a recent strong streak of gains that confirms robust demand for homes remains despite a strained market. The euro rose to $1.1212 from $1.1202, while the dollar rose to 110.45 yen from 109.89 yen.
Advertisement
And, the Philly Fed’s manufacturing index fell to -1.8 from -1.6.
