Health care and industrials led gainers
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, 22 November 2013 with the S&P 500 extending gains into a seventh consecutive week. U.S. stocks have had a record-breaking rally this year, buoyed by the improving economy, low inflation and the Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary policy. The Fed has vowed to keep interest rates low for an extended period and has also been pumping $85 billion a month into the economy via its bond-buying program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 54.78 points, or 0.3%, to end at 16,064.77, leaving it up 0.7% for the week. The S&P 500 climbed 8.91 points, or 0.5%, to close at 1,804.76, notching a gain of 0.4% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite rose 22.49 points, or 0.6%, to 3,991.65, posting a gain of 0.1% for the week.
Health care and industrials led gainers among the S&P's 10 major sectors. Within the Dow, 23 of the 30 components finished higher.
Boeing had the biggest gain and also some outsized influence on the price-weighted average. Some of its gain was offset by IBM which famous Stanley Druckenmiller said was a stock to sell short for the company's lack of innovation. Nike shares gained 1% after the company raised its quarterly dividend by 14%.
Intel was the Dow's biggest decliner. Shares of Intel fell 5.4% after the chip maker said its revenue and operating profit will be flat in 2014 due to the slump in its PC business.
Data on Friday showed German business sentiment rebounded sharply in November with Ifo's business confidence index rising to 109.3, up from a revised 103.7 in October and beating forecasts of 107.7. This followed upbeat labour and factory activity reading from the US.
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Minutes from the Federal Reserve's October meeting, released earlier this week, showed officials considered going back to a calendar date to end asset purchases or setting a total size to its bond buys. The asset-purchase program has been supportive for dollar-denominated commodity prices.
Gold futures closed with a slight gain on Friday, 22 November 2013 at Comex but suffered their largest weekly loss in 10 weeks on the back of increased chatter over the taper timing for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program. Contributing further pressure on gold prices has been a strong U.S. stock market.
Gold for December delivery rose 50 cents to settle at $1,244.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The February 2014 contract which was also among the most active, ended at $1,244.60 an ounce, up 30 cents. Futures prices for the yellow metal settled 3.4% lower for the week.
December silver lost 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $19.86 an ounce. The March contract ended at $19.90 an ounce, down 7.5 cents, or 0.4%. Futures prices for the white metal saw a loss of about 4.2% for the week.
Crude Oil futures finished modestly lower on Friday, 22 November 2013 at Nymex but scored a weekly gain, their first in seven weeks, with the market plagued by nine weeks of rising U.S. crude inventories and uncertainty over the outlook for energy demand. January crude oil traded lower despite the weaker dollar index.
Crude oil for January delivery fell 60 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $94.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after advancing by 1.7% on Thursday. For the week, futures prices rose 1.1%.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Friday. In the banking space, ICICI Bank gained 1.75% at $34.28 and HDFC Bank added 2.49% at $32.93. In the IT space, Infosys rose 0.75% at $53.92 and Wipro was up 2.3% at $11.58. In the other sectors, Tata Motors rose 0.27% at $30.20 and Dr Reddys Laboratories jumped 1.6% at $39.34.
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