Stocks close mixed in quiet trading | Wright Investors' Service

Stocks close mixed in quiet trading | Wright Investors' Service

Stocks were narrowly mixed on Thursday after trading in a narrow band all day.

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow gained 0.1% while NASDAQ fell by the same percentage. There was a slight upward bias to trading, with six of the 10 S&P sectors closing higher, led by utilities once again, which rose 0.9%, while 17 of the Dow’s 30 components gained ground. Winners beat losers by a slight margin on the New York Stock Exchange, while the reverse was true on NASDAQ. On its first day of trading following its IPO, Markit (MRKT), the financial information and services company, jumped more than 11% to close at $26.70. Blackberry was the most actively traded stock, climbing nearly 10% to $9.09 a share after reporting a sharply lower than expected quarterly loss. Amazon lost 2.2%, giving back most of its gain from the previous day, when it announced the launch of its new smart phone.

Economic reports released Thursday were positive and mostly better than expected.

Initial unemployment claims fell by 6,000 to 312,000 last week, almost exactly in line with expectations. The four-week moving average fell to 311,750, down 11,000 from a month ago.
Leading indicators rose 0.5% in May, slightly below the 0.6% Street forecast but up from the 0.3% rise in April, which was revised slightly downward from 0.4% originally reported.
The Philadelphia Fed general business conditions index rose to 17.8 in June, up from 15.4 the prior month, the strongest monthly increase since last October. That beat the Street forecast of 13.0 and follows the increase in the New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing survey, reported Monday.

European stock and bond prices were higher all day following yesterday’s Federal Reserve announcements. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% while the main German, French and Spanish indexes all gained 0.7%. Italian stocks rose 0.9%. Sovereign bond prices were broadly higher after the Fed said it expects global interest rates to stay low for a “considerable time.” Yields on German, Italian and Spanish 10-year bonds fell 4-5 basis points; at 1.32%, the yield on the German bund is now trading near its 12-month low. By contrast, U.S. Treasury prices were lower on the day, giving back most of the previous day’s gain, with the yield on the 10-year note rising four bps to 2.63%.

Asian shares were mixed. The Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% but the Shanghai composite fell by the same percentage. On Wednesday Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged to meet China’s 7.5% economic growth target, promising “honestly and solemnly there won’t be a hard landing.” Hong Kong stocks fell 0.1% while South Korea’s Kospi index rose by a like amount. Indian shares dropped 0.2%.

Reports/dates/facts/links worth paying attention to over the next week:

  1. June 23: U.S. existing home sales (May); Chicago Fed national activity index.
  2. June 24: ICSC weekly same store index; U.S. new home sales (May); CB consumer confidence (June); Case-Shiller home price indexes (April).
  3. June 25: First quarter GDP, final revision; durable goods orders (May).
  4. June 26: Weekly unemployment claims; personal income and outlays (May).
  5. June 27: University of Michigan consumer sentiment index (June).

Copyright © 2014 by Wright Investors’ Service, Inc. The views expressed in this blog reflect those of Wright Investors’ Service, Inc. and are subject to change. Statements and opinions therein are based on sources of information believed to be accurate and reliable, but Wright Investors’ Service, Inc. makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness thereof. These views should not be relied upon as investment advice.

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Stocks close mixed in quiet trading | Wright Investors' Service

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