Market Update & Important Indicators
U.S. stocks slipped Friday but notched gains for the week, buoyed by rallying energy shares and signs that a trade spat between the world's top economies was easing. Despite the day's losses, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite each rose more than 1% for the week, thanks to a rebound in technology shares that had been hit hard in March, as well as a jump in energy shares. While bank shares fell Friday, a move some attributed to investors largely pricing in robust results ahead of the earnings reports as well as concerns over continuing investigations at Wells Fargo, the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index of large U.S. lenders ended the week up 1.2%. The Dow industrials fell 122.91 points, or 0.5%, to 24360.14, while the S&P 500 lost 7.69 points, or 0.3%, to 2656.30 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 33.60 points, or 0.5%, to 7106.65. One of the best-performing sectors in the S&P 500 for the week was technology, where shares took a hit last month as backlash over Facebook's handling of user data raised fears among investors of tighter regulations. Energy shares in the S&P 500 gained 1.1% Friday, boosted by a rally in oil prices. The US gold Price gained 0.83% to finish at 1345.40 $USD on Friday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index ends the week high, up 0.1% at 379.20, as traders perceive that geopolitical tensions have eased for now, but remain wary. Property companies are in the spotlight, with Hammerson PLC the biggest faller, down 9%, after French group Klepierre walked away from a takeover bid, prompting its shares to rise 3.6%. Germany's DAX closes up 0.2%, France's CAC 40 ends up 0.1% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index closes up 0.1%. Among eurozone peripheral equity markets, Italy's FTSE MIB closes up 0.1% and Spain's IBEX 35 up 0.2%.
Asian stocks edged up Friday ahead of key first-quarter earnings reports by major U.S.banks, amid signs that dangers of a trade spat among the world's top economies are easing. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed up 0.6%, while Chinese equities gave up some of their early gains after official data showed a surprise trade deficit for March. Investors were caught off guard by official data, which showed China's trade balance swung to a deficit of $5 billion in March from a $34 billion surplus in the previous month. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected a surplus of roughly $20 billion.
Miners pushed Australian stocks to a 2nd-straight weekly gain, as rising prices continued to buoying shares. After 2-straight drops, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 5829.1 as the index moved in a relatively tight 23.7-point range while remaining higher throughout the day. Markets elsewhere turned negative as the day progressed. The index rose 0.7% for the week, the most since late February. The materials sector rose for a 6th-straight day, with Rio Tinto climbing 2% despite another relatively flat day for Chinese iron-ore futures. But most of the major banks fell again; CBA edged up 0.1%.
The London Metal Exchange’s 3-month copper contract increased by 0.1% to 6,797/t. The other base metals were mixed. Lead prices fell by 1.0% to 2,306/t, whilst zinc prices increased 0.6% to 3,106/t. Nickel finished 1.7% higher at 13,897/t, Aluminium declined 3.6% at 2,292/t. Tin Prices gained 0.6% to 21,105/t.
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