Valley News – Dow reaches another historic high



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Wall Street closed a decisive week on Friday with major US stock indexes and the second-highest historic in two days for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

An afternoon sale erased the modest gains of the S & P 500, whose benchmark was on track to reach its record high for most of the day. Losses for technology companies and retailers, two of the hottest sectors of the market this year, offset gains in energy and industrial stocks.

"When we have a big week like we did, we are at a record level, so that people take a little risk at the end of the week, it's not a big surprise," he said. said Randy Frederick. , Vice President of Trading and Derivatives at Charles Schwab.

The S & P 500 index fell 1.08 percentage point, or 0.04%, to 2,929.67, just below its record high set the day before. The Dow Jones gained 86.52 points, or 0.3%, at 26,743.50, largely thanks to gains from Boeing and McDonald's.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 41.28 points, or 0.5%, to 7,986.96. The Russell 2000 Small Business Index dropped 7.77 points, or 0.5%, to 1,712.32.

The Dow Jones and S & P 500 each finished the week with their 10th weekly gain over the past 12 weeks.

The release of Thursday's rally was unhindered for most of Friday. Some factors may have contributed to the decline of the market in the late afternoon.

Friday was a "quadruple" day when options and futures contracts expire, which often results in heavy trading.

In addition, next Monday, the S & P 500 will change the range of 11 business sectors that make up the benchmark. Technology giants Google and Facebook will join Netflix and 15 other companies in a new communications services sector.

The change requires exchange traded funds, or ETFs, and other funds that track the S & P 500 sectors to trade to reflect the new alignment of the index.

"There are probably ongoing sales in ETFs and mutual funds right now and probably also Monday," said Frederick.

Micron Technology was one of the biggest decliners in the technology sector. The chip maker said Friday that its profits would be affected by new tariffs on Chinese imports that will come into effect next week. The company's shares fell 2.9% to $ 44.74.

The trade dispute between the United States and China is expected to worsen on Monday. This is "when an additional 10 percent tax on Chinese imports of $ 200 billion come into play. Rates will increase to 25 percent on Jan. 1. Beijing said it would fight back by imposing penalties. tariffs of 5 or 10 percent, honey and industrial chemicals.

Despite this, investors have taken the potential negative impact of the trade dispute this week, welcoming the latest signs of a strong economy and rising market.

"Finally, the market has escaped all the fears of the trade war," said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior markets strategist at Voya Investment Management. "The robustness of the economy will not be eliminated."

Other sectors held up better on Friday. Several airlines posted gains as part of a general recovery in industrial sector stocks. American Airlines Group climbed 4.1% to $ 43.60 after the company announced that it would increase fees for checked baggage. The move comes one day after Delta Air Lines announced its own plans to increase baggage fees. Delta shares added 2.5% to $ 59.61. Southwest Airlines rose 2% to $ 63.77.

Mazor Robotics jumped 10.2 percent to $ 58.15 after the surgical guidance system manufacturer agreed to buy $ 1.54 billion from Medtronic.

US crude gained 0.7% to settle at 70.78 dollars a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to fix international oil prices, added 0.1 percent to 78.80 dollars a barrel in London.

Rising crude oil prices led to higher energy inventories. Cimarex Energy rose 2.1% to $ 92.34.

Shares of Duke Energy slid 1% to $ 79.82 after floods flooded the lake from a large lake near a coal-fired power plant in retirement, raising concerns about a possible violation.

Bond prices have changed little. The Treasury's 10-year return is maintained at 3.07%.

The dollar climbed to 112.52 yen against 112.48 yen on Thursday. The euro fell slightly to $ 1,1747, against $ 1,776. The pound fell to 1.3078 dollars against 1.3268 dollars after British Prime Minister Theresa May said the negotiations on the exit of the European Union were deadlocked.

Gold fell 0.8% to $ 1,201.30 an ounce. Silver gained 0.4 percent to 14.36 dollars an ounce. Copper jumped 4.3% to $ 2.86 a pound.

In the alternative energy trade, heating oil dropped 0.1% to $ 2.23 per gallon, wholesale gasoline added 2.0% to $ 2.02 a gallon, and natural gas $ 2.98 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Major stock indexes in Europe posted solid gains on Friday. The German DAX added 0.8%, while the French CAC 40 gained 0.8%. The FTSE 100 index in London rose 1.7%.

In Asia, markets have mostly climbed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.7% and Tokyo's Nikkei 225, 0.8%. The Seoul Kospi added 0.7%. The Sydney S & P-ASX 200 took 0.4%.

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