Although the Dow is keeping pace with Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index this year, it trailed the S&P 500 by 1.2 percentage points in 2015 and by 3.7 points in 2014. Overall eurozone growth was confirmed from a preliminary estimate of 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter.
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The Nasdaq Composite was up 26.41 points or 0.51% at 5,230.99. South Korea’s KOSPI edged up 0.2%. Yet the largest USA company by market value, Apple, only receives a 4% weighting. Retailers paced stock advances, with Macy’s Inc. and Kohl’s Corp. climbing at least 14 percent after reporting quarterly earnings.
U.S. futures pointed to a broadly flat open on Wall Street following fresh records in the previous session, as investors looked to the release of retail sales data.
Nonetheless some wealth managers and advisers, including Whitechirch’s Gavin Haynes, have moved to cut back exposure to USA funds on valuations grounds.
Stocks are rising Thursday led by energy companies and retailers as the market rebounds from modest losses a day earlier and heads toward another record-high close.
“Despite the recent bounce in prices, we continue to believe that the oil market remains in oversold territory”, RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a research note.
Oil extended gains Friday, rising 1.5% to $44.14 a barrel one day after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said the country would work with other oil producers to stabilize prices. It also projected that global oil demand will not grow as much as it previously expected next year, citing a weaker global economy.
Oil prices rose today, though crude futures pared gains after a report from Baker Hughes revealed a seventh straight weekly increase in USA rig counts. Brent crude, used to price worldwide oils, was up 62 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $44.66 in London. Energy stocks followed higher crude prices with the European Oil and Gas index increasing 1 percent. In June, core PPI rose 0.4 percent.
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.
Shares of Macy’s soared, up 18.5 per cent 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.
Shares of Chevron climbed 1.3%, while Exxon Mobil was 0.4% higher.
Investors also bought up shares in several other retail chains.
J.C. Penney (JCP.N), which reports on Friday, surged 8.63 percent.
USA retail sales were flat in July at US$457.7 billion (S$615 billion), suggesting a key driver of the world’s largest economy had plateaued by mid-summer.
PUMPED UP: Planet Fitness gained 10.6 percent after the fitness center company raised its profit and revenue projections following a strong second-quarter report. Steel stocks fell during Friday’s session. Chesapeake Energy rose 21 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $5.01.
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In foreign stock markets, shares in Europe were mildly lower, with the broad Stoxx Europe 600 off 0.2% and the German DAX off 0.3% and the CAC 40 in Paris 0.1% lower. Core prices had been expected to edge up by 0.2 percent.
