Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday, albeit in low volume trading, as a 2 percent drop in oil prices pulled its major indexes away from record levels.
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MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Asian stocks were mostly down Thursday after a sell-off in energy companies due to lower oil prices pulled down US stocks overnight, and with regional volumes affected by the closure of Japan’s stock exchange for a holiday.
ECONOMIC DATA: The Commerce Department said that USA retail sales held steady in July from the previous month, as Americans spent less at grocery stores, clothing shops, sporting goods and electronics and appliance outlets. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped less than one point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,185. The Nasdaq composite index gained 27 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,231.
Nordstrom rose 5.6 percent in the run-up to the results after market closes, while J.C. Penney, which reports on Friday, was up 5 percent. Nordtsrom, which was due to report its latest quarterly results after the close of regular trading Thursday, gained $2.82, or 6.4 percent, to $47.05, while Gap added 87 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $24.90.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.63-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.76-to-1 ratio favored advancers. General Growth Properties fell 61 cents, or 2 percent, to $30.11, while Simon Property Group shed $2.39, or 1.1 percent, at $216.59.
A massive rally in crude oil and better-than-expected quarterly performance from the retail space helped to drive the S&P 500 to new highs on Thursday.
The Nasdaq is up 197.17 points, or 3.9 percent.
Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.7 per cent to finish at 18,613 – outstripping its previous record of 18,595 which it had set on July 20. The stock lost $4.47 to $10.31.
The S&P 500 is up 1.18 points, or 0.1 percent. USA oil prices surged 4.3% to trade at $43.49 a barrel on Thursday, making its largest session gain last seen on July 12.
EIA reported that the US commercial crude oil inventories rose 1.1 million barrels to 523.6 million for the week ended August 5. India’s Sensex gained 1 percent to 28,147.57 and markets in Southeast Asia were mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.1% Friday and 4.1% for the week. What’s more the second-quarter GDP gain of 1.2% was driven by consumer spending as business investment was very weak. The contract fell 25 cents Tuesday.
Among metals, the price of gold rose $5.20, or 0.4 percent, to $1,351.90 an ounce.
CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 102.04 yen from 101.86 on Thursday.
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Treasury prices settled near session lows as yields rose broadly; the yield on the benchmark 10-year note jumped 7 bps at 1.56%. Its shares slid 48 cents to $9.71. Please see our terms of service for more information.
