Technology shares lead the broad rally
U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday, 29 March 2018 with major indexes climbing 1% in a broad rally that had nearly every sector participate in the gains and post strong weekly advances. Even so, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index broke a lengthy string of quarterly gains, and also closed down for the month of March. Technology shares rebounded on Thursday, leading a broad rally on Wall Street, as investors kicked off the extended Easter weekend on a positive note.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 309 points, or 1.2%, to 24,143. The S&P 500 rose 37 points to 2,642, a gain of 1.4%. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 114 points, or 1.6%, to 7,063. For the week, the Dow rose 2.7%, while the S&P added 2.1% and the Nasdaq was up 1%.
For the month of March, all three saw steep declines, with the Dow off 3.5%, the S&P 500 off 2.7% and the Nasdaq off 2.9% in its biggest monthly drop since January 2016.
The day's gains were broad-based, with 10 of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors closing higher on the day. The biggest gainer was tech, up 2.2%.
Investor confidence in tech stocks has been shaken in recent sessions, as big-name companies grappled with a variety of troubles. Facebook is dealing with a backlash over how it has managed user data, while Tesla faces an investigation of a fatal crash of one of the company's electric cars in California last week.
Amazon.com rose 1.1%, recovering from an early decline that came after President Donald Trump via Twitter criticized Amazon over its tax bill, its use of the U.S. Postal Service and its effect on brick-and-mortar retailers.
Bullion prices settled in a mixed mode on Thursday, 29 March 2018 at Comex. Gold futures settled lower on Thursday, posting a decline for the week, as concerns over a potential global trade war continued to ease and benchmark U.S. stock indexes strengthened, dulling haven-related demand for the precious metal.
June gold, the most-active contract, fell $2.70, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,327.30 an ounce. The contract edged down by 2.1% for the week and ended around 0.3% lower for the month of March. For the quarter and year to date, it was 0.7% higher. Gold marked a third-straight quarterly gain, but it was the smallest quarterly rise in seven years.
May silver meanwhile, edged up by 1.5 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $16.268 an ounce. The contract ended about 1.9% lower for the week, down 0.7% for the month to lose 5.5% for the quarter.
On Thursday, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback against a half-dozen currencies, was up less than 0.1%, and traded down over 2% year to date. Gold and the dollar often move inversely as strength or weakness in the dollar impacts gold's appeal to investors using other currencies.
Also on Thursday, U.S. stocks traded broadly higher, with benchmark stock indexes on track for weekly gains, but mostly down year to date.
Gold's recent declines follow a stronger-than-expected final reading of economic growth on Wednesday and some upbeat data on Thursday.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims came in at the lowest level since 1973, falling by 15,000 to 215,000. Meanwhile a gauge of household spending showed that the savings rate increased 3.4% in February from 3.2% in the prior month, while consumer spending increased 0.2%.
Separately, a measure of inflation, crept slightly higher. The PCE index, or personal-consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.2%.
Crude oil prices ended higher on Thursday, 29 March 2018 at Nymex notching its third straight quarterly rise in a row. Geopolitical concerns and indications from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that members are considering action that could trigger higher prices limited moves for oil, as the holiday-shortened week of trading draws to a close for Passover and Easter over the weekend.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May West Texas Intermediate crude added 56 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $64.94 a barrel. The contract was down 1.4% for the week, but 5.6% higher for the month. For quarter and year to date, the contract was up roughly 7.7%, with prices based on the most-active contracts up 7.5%.
May Brent crude rose 74 cents, or 1.1%, to end at $70.27 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. The May contract for the global oil benchmark, which expired at the day's settlement, finished about 0.3% lower for the week, for a gain of 8.6% for the month and 6.3% for the quarter.
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