Microsoft gives a big boost to Dow
U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, 23 August 2013 shaking off losses following disappointing new-home-sales data, but a big boost from Microsoft's CEO news failed to raise the Dow industrials for the week. The major averages registered modest gains after a final-hour surge pulled under performers into the green.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46.77 points, or 0.3%, to close at 15,010.51, but the index declined for a third consecutive week. The S&P 500 index rose 6.54 points, or 0.4%, to close at 1,663.50. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 19.09 points, or 0.5%, to close at 3,657.79.
Both the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index, however, snapped their two-week losing streaks. For the week, the S&P added 0.3%, Nasdaq rose 1.4%, and the Dow shed 0.6%.
Telecom and materials stocks were the day's best performers. Blue chips had plenty of support from shares of Microsoft which closed up 7.3% at $34.75, the best performer on the Dow following news that CEO Steve Ballmer will retire within 12 months.
Recent weeks have entertained much discussion over when the Federal Reserve will begin cutting back the pace of its asset purchases. While comments from many Fed speakers have suggested the first taper may occur as early as September, their remarks have often included reminders that the Fed intends to remain data-dependent. To that end, Friday's new home sales report revealed a notable drop-off in sales, which speaks against tapering in the immediate term.
Among the economic rpeort expected for the day, it was reported on Friday that new home sales collapsed in July, falling 13.4% to 394,000 from a downwardly revised 455,000 (from 497,000) in June. The consensus pegged new home sales at 485,000. In terms of percentage, the drop in sales was the largest since May 2010 and brought levels down to their lowest point since October 2012.
Bullion metals ended higher at Comex on Friday, 23 August 2013. Gold futures scored gains of nearly 2% for the session as new U.S. home sales in July fed market expectations that the Federal Reserve may decide to delay a slowdown in monetary stimulus, lifting prices to their highest settlement since early June.
December gold touched a session high of $1398.70 per ounce on Friday after trading as low as $1367.80 per ounce earlier in the session. It settled 1.8% higher at $1395.80 per ounce, booking a 1.8% gain for the week. September silver came off its low of $23.00 per ounce and settled 3.1% higher at $23.74 per ounce on Friday. The rise brought gains for the week to 1.8%.
Crude Oil futures closed above $106 a barrel on Friday, 23 August 2013 as a drop in July new U.S. home sales raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve may delay a slowdown in monetary stimulus. A weak dollar also pushed prices up.
The energy component recovered into positive territory after trading as low as $104.30 per barrel in morning pit action. It rose to a session high of $106.94 per barrel and settled with a 1.4% gain at $106.43 per ounce. Despite Friday's climb, crude oil booked a 0.9% loss for the week.
In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.2% on Friday.
Advancing stocks outpaced decliners by 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, while advancers edged out decliners slightly on the Nasdaq. Composite volume topped 2.5 billion shares for NYSE-listed stocks and about 1.5 billion shares for Nasdaq-listed stocks by the close.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Friday. In the IT space, Wipro gained 2.3% at $9.13 and Infosys rose 1.6% at $47.61. In the banking space, ICICI Bank added 1.3% at $27.7 and HDFC Bank gained 1.3% at $30.10. In the other sectors, Tata Motors was up 3.3% at $23.61.
On Monday, July durable orders will be reported at 8:30 ET.
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