Dow manage to eke out moderate gains though
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, 17 January 2014 as disappointing results from Intel and General Electric weighed on sentiment. The broader market ended the week on a down note, undercut by a spate of uninspiring earnings results and guidance from some widely-held companies that put a damper on the bullish sentiment seen in the middle of the week. But a run in tech stocks, and a Friday lift in financials, helped two benchmarks to weekly gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend and added 41.55 points, or 0.3%, to 16,458.56 and eked out a 0.1% gain over the week, its first weekly gain this year. The S&P 500 closed 7.19 points, or 0.4% lower at 1,838.70 and lost 0.2% over the week. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 21.11 points, or 0.5%, to 4,197.58 but rose 0.5% higher over the week. The technology-heavy index is the only one of the three with year-to-date gains.
21 out of the 30 Dow components ended lower on Friday. Intel and General Electric were among the Dow laggards. American Express and Visa were among Dow winners.
Both companies, Intel and GE reported their results for the fourth quarter, yet neither wowed investors. Intel missed by a penny and said it expected FY14 revenues to be approximately flat. GE was in-line with expectations and said things were improving, albeit in a mixed environment.
American Express shares gained 3.6% after the credit card company said its fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled. Shares in rival Visa rose 4.7%. Morgan Stanley shares were up 4.4% after the investment bank reported its fourth-quarter earnings, which showed strong performance in wealth management, though it was offset by weaker fixed-income trading results.
The earnings news was the focal point throughout the day. There were some early economic releases, but they didn't have much bearing on proceedings. Overall, the economic news was good enough not to create any newfound concerns about the economic recovery. December housing starts slipped 9.8% to an annualized rate of 999,000 units, but the two-month average for starts was the highest since March 2008. Industrial production jumped 0.3%, which was the fifth consecutive month industrial production increased. The preliminary reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report for January dipped to 80.4 from 82.5, but the downturn wasn't enough to cause any real concerns.
Bullion prices ended higher on Friday, 17 December 2014. Prices climbed on Friday as a move lower for most U.S. equities and a decline in consumer sentiment buoyed the precious metals' investment appeal, helping prices settle at their highest level in more than five weeks.
Gold for February delivery rose $11.70, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,251.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices finished the week 0.4% higher. March silver also rose 25 cents, or 1.3%, to end at $20.30 an ounce, for a gain of 0.4% on the week.
Crude oil futures closed at a two-week high on Friday, 17 January 2014 but disappointing data on U.S. consumer sentiment dulled the outlook for energy demand and limited gains for the trading session. Oil prices still scored a gain for the week after data on Wednesday showed a bigger-than-expected decline in U.S.
February crude oil added 41 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $94.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were 1.8% higher than the week-ago close.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast on Thursday offered a view on oil demand too. OPEC said global demand would increase by 1.05 million barrels per day to 90.91 million barrels per day in 2014 over the same time a year earlier. Still, OPEC said it expects demand for its crude oil to decline amid growing supplies outside of its member countries, mainly from the U.S., Canada, Brazil and the Sudans.
Indian ADRs saw selling pressure on Friday. Among technology stocks, Infosys fell 0.69% to $60.28 per ADR and Wipro lost 0.74% to $13.42. In the banking space, HDFC Bank was down 1.9% to $34.15 and ICICI Bank declined 1.28% to $35.58. Among others, Dr Reddy's Labs dipped 0.53% to $43.13 while Tata Motors gained 0.73% to $30.29.
The stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
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