The blue-chip Dow powered to its fifth consecutive record high on Friday as investors bought shares that should benefit from a strong reopening of the U.S economy, an outlook signaled by rising yields in the bond market. The tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled after rebounding more than 6% over the past three sessions and the S&P 500 closed flat after hitting an all-time high the prior session as rising Treasury yields revived inflation concerns. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 posted their best week in five after President Joe Biden signed into law on Thursday one of the largest U.S fiscal stimulus bills and data reinforced convictions the economy was headed to a high-growth recovery. The recent rise in U.S Treasury yields has raised fears of a sudden tapering of monetary stimulus and put downward pressure on Wall Street in recent weeks. The rising Dow and tumbling NASDAQ reflect an ongoing sell-off in tech as investors buy cyclical and underpriced value stocks that are expected to do well as the economy recovers.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.90% to hit a new all-time high. The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co, which rose 6.82% or 17.19 points to trade at 269.19 at the close. Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc. added 4.20% or 9.24 points to end at 229.00 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. was up 3.28% or 1.69 points to 53.21 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Salesforce.com Inc., which fell 1.73% or 3.74 points to trade at 212.21 at the close. Visa Inc. declined 0.79% or 1.79 points to end at 224.36 and Apple Inc. was down 0.76% or 0.93 points to 121.03.
NASDAQ 100
The NASDAQ index lost 0.59%. The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were NLS Pharmaceutics AG which rose 107.45% to 5.85, Entera Bio Ltd which was up 70.79% to settle at 6.900 and Seelos Therapeutics Inc. which gained 56.25% to close at 4.750. The worst performers were Marker Therapeutics Inc. which was down 23.32% to 1.94 in late trade, Evoke Pharma Inc. which lost 20.97% to settle at 2.450 and Poshmark Inc. which was down 19.90% to 47.63 at the close.
Oil
Oil settled near $66 a barrel on Friday, supported by production cuts by major oil producers and optimism about a demand recovery in the second half of the year. U.S crude also ended down 41 cents to $65.61 a barrel. Demand for risky assets such as oil continues to be buoyed by the White House relief package and an almost daily flow of optimistic vaccine headlines. The OPEC forecast a stronger oil demand recovery this year, weighted to the second half. OPEC, Russia and its allies decided last week to maintain its output curbs almost unchanged. U.S drillers are also holding back, cutting the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the first time since November, according to data from energy services firm Baker Hughes Co. The stronger-than-expected rebound in the second half of this year implies that the global economy and hence oil demand outlook is close to shaking off its COVID woes. The U.S, world’s largest oil consumer, saw a big draw on U.S. gasoline stocks last week as the winter storm in Texas disrupted refining output.
Precious and Base Metals
Gold prices slipped on Friday as a surge in U.S Treasury yields and a stronger dollar dented demand for non-yielding metal, although bullion was heading for its first weekly rise in four. Spot gold was down 0.5% at $1,712.50 per ounce. Bullion is up 0.8% so far this week. U.S gold futures fell 0.7% to $1,709.60. Rates had slumped over the last few days as a result of a short squeeze on the Treasury market. Now with rates immediately rising back to the psychologically important 1.6% is weighing on financial conditions broadly. The dollar is also tied to the shadow of the rising rates. So, in this context that's obviously not the environment where investment flows are likely to move towards gold. Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose back towards a more than one-year peak above 1.6% hit on March 5, while the dollar index jumped 0.5%. Some investors view gold as a hedge against higher inflation that could follow stimulus measures, but higher Treasury yields dull some of the appeal of the non-yielding commodity. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed his $1.9 trillion stimulus bill into law and said he was working to move the United States closer to normality by July 4. With physical demand providing something of a floor, we doubt that the gold price will fall below $1,600 per ounce this year. Given our forecast for industrial metals prices to fall later this year, we wouldn't be surprised if the price of silver fell relative to the price of gold. Silver fell 1.6% to $25.67 an ounce, but was on track for its first weekly gain in four weeks. Palladium rose 1.2% to $2,372.10. Platinum eased 0.2% to $1,193.20 an ounce, but was up 5.8% for the week.
Traditional Agricultures
Wheat futures extended losses on Friday to a one-month low as rain forecast for dry parts of the U.S Plains eased supply concerns. Soybean edged lower as it moved back from a near seven-year high this week, with the market weighing increased estimates of Brazil's soybean harvest against a declining outlook for Argentina. Corn also eased, with traders awaiting indications about U.S spring planting trends and fresh signs of Chinese demand. The upcoming rainfall to the U.S Hard Red Winter wheat regions, including the very western third, continues to weigh on prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment