U.S. Market Indexes Mixed with Focus on Treasuries
U.S. market indexes were mixed on Friday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18145.71 for a loss of -16.64 points or -0.09 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2141.16 for a loss of -0.18 points or -0.01 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 5257.40 for a gain of 15.57 points or 0.30 percent. The VIX Volatility Index closed at 13.38 for a loss of -0.37 points or -2.69 percent.
Friday’s Market Movers
Third quarter earnings reports have yet to help stocks gain significant momentum and the market’s focus was mainly on Treasury yields Friday. The 10-year Treasury’s yield fell to 1.740 percent on Friday.
Market activity was mostly quiet Friday with only the Baker Hughes Rig Count on the list of leading economic reports. The rig count in North America fell to 696 from 704 in the previous week. Oil prices gained for the day with WTI crude oil up 0.49 percent to $50.88 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.80 percent to $51.79 a barrel.
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Reynolds American
Chesapeake Energy
AT&T
Microsoft
Bank of America
General Electric
Time Warner
PayPal Holdings
Southwestern Energy
Verizon Communications
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains and losses for the day:
Gains
Microsoft 4.27
McDonald’s 3.13
Walt Disney 1.09
Losses
Verizon -1.91
IBM -1.23
The Travelers Companies Inc. -1.22
In the broad market consumer discretionary stocks led gains while healthcare stocks led losses. Technology stocks were higher with the S&P 500 technology sector up 0.27 percent. Stocks leading gains in technology for the day included the following:
PayPal 10.25
VeriSign 6.52
Microsoft 4.27
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.09 points or 0.07 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.33 points or 0.34 percent to 98.66.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1217.71 for a loss of -2.07 points or -0.17 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 733.89 for a loss of -1.81 points or -0.25 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7375.09 for a loss of -10.64 points or -0.14 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8615.35 for a loss of -11.53 points or -0.13 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1526.99 for a loss of -0.93 points or -0.06 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 949.73 for a gain of 0.61 points or 0.06 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1266.37 for a loss of -0.10 points or -0.01 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1186.51 for a gain of 0.10 points or 0.01 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 599.66 for a loss of -1.26 points or -0.21 percent.
