Gains led by a rally in financials and technology sectors
U.S. stock-market indices closed higher on Thursday, 28 June 2018 with broad-based gains led by a rally in financials and technology sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.46 points to finish at 24,216.05, a gain of 0.4%. The S&P 500 index rose 16.68 points to 2,716.31, a rise of 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 58.60 points, or 0.8%, to end at 7,503.68.
Equities have been volatile, with major indexes seeing big swings in both directions, often in the same session, and usually in response to changing headlines about trade policy. However, they remain in the fairly tight trading range that indexes have been mired in for months.
Thus far this week, the Dow is off 1.4%, the S&P has lost 1.6%, and the Nasdaq has lost 2.5%. For 2018, the Dow has lost 2%, the S&P has gained 1.6%, and the Nasdaq has surged 8.7% on the back of steep gains in large-capitalization technology and internet companies.
Recent trading has largely been dictated by trade policy and shifting views over whether tensions between the U.S. and its major trading partners are escalating, and how severe an impact protectionist policies could have on the global economy.
More From This Section
On Wednesday, the Trump's administration backed away from invoking executive authority to impose a crackdown on Chinese investment in the U.S., but strategists are still sounding wary about what could be ahead. Washington has moved or threatened to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of imports from China, while Beijing has vowed to retaliate. The U.S. is also mired in trade spats with the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
There wasn't much going on at the macro level on Thursday, but there were plenty of corporate headlines.
Amazon received perhaps the most attention after announcing a deal to acquire online pharmacy start-up PillPack. CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance tumbled 6.1% and 9.9%, respectively, in response to the news. Package delivery giants FedEx and UPS also fell on Amazon-related news, dropping 1.3% and 2.3%, respectively, after the internet retail giant announced it is inviting entrepreneurs to form small companies to carry packages over the last leg of the delivery journey.
U.S. economic news on Thursday was downbeat. Data revealed that growth in the U.S. economy in the first quarter was lowered to 2% from 2.2%. Weekly initial jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 227,000.
Dollar-pegged gold has decidedly turned lower even as uncertainty over global growth and anxieties about escalating trade tensionsfactors that would typically provide a lift for the commodity have intensified. The dollar, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index boasts a weekly gain of 0.7% and is up 1.3% so far in June.
Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Thursday, 28 June 2018. Gold futures finished lower on Thursday to suffer a fourth consecutive loss, as the precious metal continued to be walloped by recent momentum in the U.S. dollar.
August gold fell $5.10, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,251 an ouncethe lowest settlement for a most-active contract since 13 December 2017. The four consecutive session losses also marked the lengthiest selloff since a four-day slide in first week of Feb 2018. Gold has fallen 1.8% so far this week and was looking at a 4% drop in June, along with a 4.4% year-to-date retreat. September silver, the most active contract, fell by 1.2% to $16.041 an ounce. Silver is poised for weekly and monthly declines of around 3%.
Crude oil prices climbed on Thursday, 28 June 2018 with the U.S. benchmark again marking its highest level since 2014 in the wake of the biggest weekly decline of the year for domestic crude supplies and ongoing global output risks. Traders also showed concerns that U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil and production issues at a Canadian oil sands facility will contribute to tighter global supplies.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude added 69 cents, or nearly 1%, to settle at $73.45 a barrel. August Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $77.85 a barrel, with prices settling at the highest since May. The August contract expires at the end of Friday's session.
Looking ahead to Friday, investors will receive Personal Income, Personal Spending, and PCE Prices for May at 8:30 AM ET, the Chicago PMI for June at 9:45 AM ET, and the final reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for June at 10:00 AM ET.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News