Wall Street capped a record-setting week with a day of mostly listless trading Friday that left the three major US stock indexes essentially flat. Chesapeake Energy rose 21 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $5.01.
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Negative sentiment could also be generated by a report from the Commerce Department showing that US retail sales were unexpectedly flat in the month of July.
Mining and chemicals companies fell the most, while energy companies rose along with the price of oil.
“It’s been such an oversupplied market for a long period of time, to get that supply-demand closer to being in balance, or to be in balance, is a huge driver”, said David Chalupnik, head of equities for Nuveen Asset Management.
Oil prices added to recent gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 54 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,549 as of 10:09 a.m.
Oil is up 0.7 percent to $43.78 a barrel in NY. The Dow Average and Nasdaq added more than 0.4 percent.
MSCI’s all-world stock index shed 0.1 per cent, but lingered around year highs. A strong jobs report last Friday boosted investors’ confidence in the USA economy. “In order for stocks to continue to make new highs and continue to grind higher, we’re going to need to see some improvement in revenues and see some improvement in earnings in the second half of 2016”. It also projected that global oil demand won’t grow as much as it previously expected next year, citing a weaker global economy.
The S&P energy index jumped 1.68 percent, making it the top gainer among the 10 major sectors of the benchmark, led by gains in Exxon and Chevron.
The Nasdaq is up 270.99 points, or 4.4 percent.
Several oil and gas companies got a boost from the rise in crude prices.
Nvidia rose 5.6 percent after the chipmaker reported its fastest quarterly sales growth in almost five years.
Retailers also posted strong gains after Macy’s and Kohl’s reported quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s expectations despite continued competition from online outlets like Amazon.com. Macy’s also said it plans to close about 100 stores next year as it tries to become more nimble in a competitive market.
Macy’s rose $5.81, or 17.1 percent, to $39.81, while Kohl’s jumped $6.15, or 16.2 percent, to $44.19.
RETAILERS RISE: Investors bid up shares in several other retailers. Kohl’s rallied the most ever, while peers J.C. Penney Co. and Nordstrom climbed at least 7.5 percent. The chain is scheduled to release earnings early Friday.
An unexpectedly flat US retail sales growth and a drop in the producer price index for July hurt investor sentiment.
Not all companies had favorable quarterly results.
– Ruby Tuesday’s slid 13.1 percent after the restaurant chain reported weak sales and said it would shutter 95 of its company-owned locations by September. The stock shed $6.23 to $10.13. Regional volumes were affected by the closure of Japan’s stock exchange for a holiday.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany’s DAX was up 0.6 percent, while France’s CAC 40 was up 0.9 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite is down 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,225. The Standard & Poor’s 500 is down 4 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,182.
Shares of Macy’s soared, up 18.5 percent as of 2.50pm in NY, after the company said it plans to close about 100 so-called full-line stores, out of a total of 728 Macy’s stores, including 675 full-line locations. Silver lost 15 cents, or 0.7%, to 20.02 an ounce.
It logged a 0.7-per-cent gain for the week, after ending last week at a one-year high. Treasuries fell as an auction of 30-year bonds saw a retreat from the level of investor interest seen at previous sales this week.
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New Zealand’s dollar strengthened after traders deemed the central bank’s decision to cut borrowing costs was insufficiently dovish amid the global ardor for yield spurred by unprecedented global monetary easing.
