Eight of eleven sectors end in the green
U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, 29 June 2018 even as the earlier rally in financial shares flamed out, but for the week, all major benchmarks finished lower due to ongoing trade war-related jitters. Market observers blamed some of the late selling pressure on investors window-dressing their books for the end of the quarter. Friday marks the end of the month, the second quarter and the first half of the year, with major U.S. stock indexes putting in mixed performances over these periods.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 55.36 points, or 0.2%, to 24,271.41. The blue-chip index was up more than 200 points during the session but surrendered most of its gains in the afternoon. The S&P 500 index rose 2.06 points to 2,718.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 6.62 points to 7,510.30.
Financials led the market higher out of the gate after the Fed cleared most big banks to increase their dividends and share buybacks.
Eight of eleven sectors closed Friday in the green. Energy was the top-performing space as crude prices climbed for a fourth straight session. WTI crude futures advanced 1.0% to $74.12 per barrel, hitting a new three-and-a-half year high and locking in a weekly gain of 8.1%.
The dollar, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index shed 0.8% on Friday but edged up by 0.1% for the week and was up 0.7% so far in June. The index added 2.7% so far this year.
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 commodityhave intensified.
Economic data at Wall Street showed that the personal-consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.2% as did the core rate that strips out food and energy. The rate of inflation over the past 12 months rose to 2.3%, the fastest pace since March 2012. Also, Chicago PMI climbed to a reading of 64.1 in June, up from 62.7, the fastest reading since January and the highest level in six month. Any reading above 50 indicates improving conditions.
Separately, the final University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for June came in at 98.2, slightly below forecasts. Thursday's data showed first-quarter growth for the U.S. economy was trimmed to 2% from 2.2%.
Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Friday, 30 June 2018. Gold futures snapped a four-day losing streak on Friday, but logged a second quarter drop of more than 5%.
August gold ended $3.50 higher at $1,254.50 an ounce, a gain of 0.3% for the day. Gold prices, based on the most-active contracts, saw a weekly loss of 1.3%, a 3.8% June decline and a 5.5% drop for the quarter, leaving prices down more than 4% so far in 2018. September silver rose 1% to end at $16.198 an ounce, with most-active contract prices logging weekly decline of 1.6% and a monthly drop of nearly 1.8%.
Crude oil ended higher for a fourth straight session on Friday, 30 June 2018 booking strong weekly, monthly, quarterly and first-half 2018 gains as long-running efforts by OPEC, anticipated increases in demand and supply disruptions combined to thrust prices higher.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, tacked on 70 cents, or nearly 1%, to settle at $74.15 a barrel, for another finish at its highest since November 2014. Prices for the front-month contract tacked on just over 8% for the week, saw a monthly gain of almost 11% and rose over 14% for the second quarter. Year to date, it was up by almost 23%.
Looking ahead to Monday, investors will receive the June ISM Manufacturing Index and the May Construction Spending report.
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