Wall Street ekes out small gain to cap strongest week of year

U.S. stocks closed slightly higher on Friday, ending the S& P 500' s best week for 2015 on a quiet note as investors waited for U.S. companies to report third-quarter earnings.

The S& P 500 had a weekly gain of 3.3 percent, its best week since Dec. 2015, as investors regained some optimism after a period of heavy volatility since late August on concerns about global growth and uncertainty about U.S. interest rates.

" We' ve had a very good week and a very good start to the fourth quarter," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. " Next week third quarter earnings season begins in earnest. You had disappointing results from Alcoa yesterday and further reason to take money off the table as you go into next week."

Investors are anxious to gauge how companies are faring amid U.S. dollar strength and concerns about growth in China, the world' s second biggest economy.

Trading volume was light with 6.77 billion shares changing hands on U.S. exchanges compared the 7.52 billion average for the previous 20 sessions according to Thomson Reuters data.

Financial stocks were among the worst performers Friday as investors read further signs of dovishness in the previous day' s release of minutes from the Fed' s September meeting. Policymakers held interest rates steady and the minutes showed they sought evidence a global economic slowdown would not knock the U.S. economy off course.

After recent weak performance, financial stocks will be in focus next week as Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N), Bank of American Corp (BAC.N) and other big banks post quarterly results.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 33.74 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,084.49, the S& P 500 .SPX gained 1.46 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,014.89 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 19.68 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,830.47.

" We' ve had a super run," said Jon Merriman, chief executive officer at Merriman Holdings Inc in San Francisco. " You had sentiment that was extremely bad eight days ago. Sentiment has become more optimistic. That signals that it' s time for the market to roll over."

Information technology .SPLRCT was the strongest S& P sector with 0.5 percent gain. Its biggest driver was Apple Inc (AAPL.O) with a 2.4 percent increase, its best day in a month.

Five of the 10 major S& P sectors fell, led by the energy sector .SPNY, drop of 0.7 percent as oil prices settled roughly unchanged. Financials .SPSY dropped 0.6 percent.

For the week, the Dow rose 3.7 percent while Nasdaq rose 2.6 percent.

Alcoa (AA.N), one of the first S& P components to report earnings, fell 6.8 percent to $10.26 and was the S& P' s biggest percentage decliner after it reported disappointing results.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,726 to 1,318, for a 1.31-to-1 ratio on the upside. On the Nasdaq, 1,516 issues rose and 1,233 fell for a 1.23-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S& P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and one new low the Nasdaq recorded 71 new highs and 29 new lows.

 

 

Asian Indexes

	Index	Country	Change	% Change	Level	Last Update
	Australia ASX All Ordinaries	Australia	+13.00	+0.25%	5,241.40	1:10am ET
	Shanghai SE Composite Index	China	+90.58	+2.97%	3,143.36	3:28am ET
	Hang Seng	Hong Kong	-169.56	-0.75%	22,346.20	4:01am ET
	Mumbai Sensex	India	-221.07	-0.82%	26,814.78	4:44am ET
	Nikkei 225	Japan	-181.81	-0.99%	18,141.17	2:15am ET
	Taiwan TSEC 50 Index	Taiwan	-49.27	-0.58%	8,445.96	1:33am ET

 

Asian Shares Make Muted Start
Chinese markets set to open after a week-long holiday

Oct. 8, 2015 9:35 a.m.

A sharp rally in Asia' s emerging-market currencies and commodities-related shares cooled on Thursday, just before Chinese markets were set to open after a week-long holiday.

The region' s currencies, having strengthened earlier this week, lost some momentum, with the Malaysian ringgit down 0.4% against the US dollar.

Gains were muted in the region' s shares early Thursday, with Japan up 0.2% on the heels of a six-day winning streak that took the Nikkei Stock Average to its highest level in almost one month.

The lackluster start comes amid a pullback in oil prices, which had rallied to a more than one-month high Wednesday and buoyed the region' s commodities stocks from Japan to Australia.

While Brent crude oil prices were up 0.8% at $ 51.74 a barrel in Asia trade, prices slid in US trade overnight to as low as $ 51.25 after inventory data showed US stockpiles of crude oil and petroleum products at a record high.

Japanese trading company Mitsubishi Corp. was up 0.5% after rallying 7% Wednesday. In Australia, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. was up 0.7% after rallying 6% a day earlier.

On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund warned that troubles in emerging markets could risk asset fire sales and curtail growth in rich countries. Downbeat German industrial production figures added more evidence of weakening exports to emerging markets.

Earlier this week, hopes the Federal Reserve would hold off on raising interest rates boosted investor optimism about some emerging-market currencies. Many raced to cover short bets, which bumped up battered currencies like the ringgit and rupiah. The latter logged its biggest one- day rise in seven years on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Australia' s S & P / ASX 200 was up 0.9% and South Korea' s Kospi gained 0.7%. Overnight, US stock gained with the help of a rebound in the health-care sector.

Shares in Hong Kong were at their highest in over a month as of Wednesday' s close. The benchmark rallied 8% in the first week of October, when the domestic market was shut for national holiday.

" Judging from recent market developments, it is fair to say that the Chinese stock markets are expected to start on a positive footing, with plenty of catch-up action," said Bernard Aw, analyst at IG, in a note.

On Wednesday, the deputy governor of China' s central bank, Yi Gang, sought to allay fears of a deep economic slowdown in China, saying continued growth would stabilize the country' s currency and allow the central bank to let it move according to market forces.

Data Wednesday showed the China' s foreign exchange reserves dropped by $ 43.26 billion in September compared with $ 93.93 billion in August. The trend signals the country' s central bank could step up monetary easing, which could a positive for markets.

A hands-off approach could cause more depreciation in the yuan, also known as the renminbi, should the Chinese economy weaken further. But " fundamentals" such as China' s strong trade surplus would ensure the yuan' s strength, Mr. Yi said.

In August, the Chinese central bank let the yuan fall against the dollar but later intervened to prop up the currency. Mr. Yi said that intervention did not represent a change of heart on the part of the central bank but rather an attempt to stamp out market volatility.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 41% from its peak in June and up just 4% from lowest point of a summer selloff in late-August before the holiday. Investors have been forced to sell as margin debt unwinds and amid a gloomy economic outlook.

Gold prices were down 0.4% at $ 1144.00 a troy ounce.