Indices close out the week on a positive note
U.S. stocks finished mostly higher on Friday, 23 June 2017 as investors scooped up battered energy shares, and technology stocks extended their recent advance, helping the main indexes close out the week on a positive note. The fact that oil prices held up well considering concerns about a continuing supply glut also helped to buoy the market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2.53 points to close at 21,394.76 in an up-and-down session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 28.56 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 6,265.25. The S&P 500 rose 3.80 points, or 0.2%, to end at 2,438.30 with technology and energy shares lreading the way.
For the week, the S&P 500 posted a weekly gain of 0.2%, while the Dow industrials were mostly flat and the Nasdaq logged a 1.8% weekly climb.
Bank shares were in focus after the Federal Reserve released the results of stress tests. Still, the Financial Select Sector. The report from the Fed on the health of the banking sector was released on Thursday, and showed that all 34 banks assessed have strong levels of capital and would be able to keep lending even during a severe recession. The second set of results, an outline of which banks may return capital to investors, are due next week.
Economic data at wall Street on Friday showed that new Home Sales in May hit an annualized rate of 610,000, which was above the revised April rate of 593,000 (from 569,000), and more than the 599,000 that was expected by the consensus. The key takeaway from the report is that affordability constraints driven by rising median prices are going to continue to serve as a headwind for first-time buyers who are facing added supply constraints in the existing home market.
Bullion metals ended higher on Friday, 23 June 2017. Gold climbed for a third session in a row on Friday, but its rise on the back of declines in the U.S. dollar and recent weakness in assets perceived as risky wasn't enough to give the metal's prices a boost for the week.
August gold rose $7, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,256.40 an ounce, with futures down a dime from last Friday's settlement, after posting losses in each of the past two weeks. July silver gained 13.8 cents, or 0.8%, to $16.647 an ounce. For the week, silver lost a bit more than a penny.
A softening dollar helped to give precious metals get a lift on Friday, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback against a half-dozen currencies, down 0.4%. Slack in the dollar can give commodities priced in the currency a boost, making them cheaper for buyers using weaker currencies.
Oil prices ended higher on Friday, 23 June 2017 at Nymex but suffered a weekly loss for the fifth time in a rowthe longest run of weekly declines since 2015. Some of the world's largest producers expressed willingness to stick to output cuts providing support for oil for the session. Prices, however, were still stuck in a bear market, defined as a decline from a recent peak of at least 20%, amid strong U.S. production.
August West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 27 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $43.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil reached bear-market territory on Wednesday. For the week, WTI oil's August contract ended roughly 4.4% lower. It was down a fifth-straight weekthe longest losing streak of its kind since the eight-week fall.
Brent crude for August delivery on London's ICE Futures exchange added 32 cents, or 0.7%, for the session to $45.54 a barrel. It fell 3.9% for the week.
Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.
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