Stocks up on strong retail results
Stocks resembled summer holidaymakers - rising not too impressively in the morning and then mostly lying around for the rest of the day.Positive news from retailers was the main reason US indexes posted small gains. Apple helped too by hitting a new high.
Traders in both the US and Europe are on holiday, so volumes were low. And the dog days continued for Facebook. A 4% decline left its shares at about half the price of its May initial public offering.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 25.09 points to close at 13,275.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.65 points to close at 1,418.16. The Nasdaq rose 14.20 points to close at 3,076.59.
The modest gains put some indexes close to their highs for the year. The Dow is now within four points of 13,279, its high for the year set on May 1. The S&P 500 is within one point of its four-year high set on April 1. The Dow has now risen eight out of the last 11 days and finished the week up a half per cent. The Dow is sporting a gain for the year of almost 8.7% for the year, while the S&P 500 is up almost 12.7%.
Next week is likely to be more eventful. Investors will get Chinese housing reports, minutes from a closely-watched Federal Reserve meeting, and jobless claims. And Europe's problems, which were mostly off centre stage in recent days, return front-and-centre as German chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras in Berlin to talk about progress in overcoming Greece's debt crisis.
Strong retail earnings and outlooks drove Friday's gains. Gap shares rose 4.8% after it boosted its outlook and posted a 29% jump in net income. That suggests the operator of Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores is finally on the way to a turnaround. Shares of Ann, the parent of retailer Ann Taylor, jumped 20% after its second-quarter profit rose 24%. Foot Locker rose 1.7% after quarterly profits leaped 59%, boosted by higher sales, cost controls and a small tax-related gain.
A few retailers did struggle. Sears Holdings fell 1.3%, giving back some of Thursday's big gain.
Technology stocks saw both highs and lows on Friday. Apple hit an all-time high, rising almost 2% to 648.11 dollars. It now has a market value of about 608 billion dollars, almost 50% higher than No 2 Exxon Mobil at 408 billion dollars. But declines continued for Facebook and Groupon, the online coupon company. Facebook closed at 19 dollars, about half the value of its initial public offering price of 38 dollars. Investors are worried that mobile ads won't bring in as much money as those seen on desktop computers. And Facebook's short-term problems include the expiration of a lock-up period on Thursday that had kept early investors from selling. Groupon lost another 5% to close at 4.75 dollars. It has now set a new low every day since Tuesday. Its woes include foreign-exchange rates in Europe and a worry that its business isn't very hard for competitors to copy.
Health care stocks declined a half per cent, the biggest drop among the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500. Pharmaceutical companies led the decline. Pfizer fell 1 per cent and Merck dropped 1.4%. And computer chip maker Marvell Technology Group stock dropped 14% after a revenue decline sliced its quarterly net income by more than half. Its CEO cited a slowing economy for the trouble.
Next week is likely to be more eventful. Investors will get Chinese housing reports, minutes from a closely-watched Federal Reserve meeting, and jobless claims. And Europe's problems, which were mostly off centre stage in recent days, return front-and-centre as German chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras in Berlin to talk about progress in overcoming Greece's debt crisis.
Strong retail earnings and outlooks drove Friday's gains. Gap shares rose 4.8% after it boosted its outlook and posted a 29% jump in net income. That suggests the operator of Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores is finally on the way to a turnaround. Shares of Ann, the parent of retailer Ann Taylor, jumped 20% after its second-quarter profit rose 24%. Foot Locker rose 1.7% after quarterly profits leaped 59%, boosted by higher sales, cost controls and a small tax-related gain.
A few retailers did struggle. Sears Holdings fell 1.3%, giving back some of Thursday's big gain.
Technology stocks saw both highs and lows on Friday. Apple hit an all-time high, rising almost 2% to 648.11 dollars. It now has a market value of about 608 billion dollars, almost 50% higher than No 2 Exxon Mobil at 408 billion dollars. But declines continued for Facebook and Groupon, the online coupon company. Facebook closed at 19 dollars, about half the value of its initial public offering price of 38 dollars. Investors are worried that mobile ads won't bring in as much money as those seen on desktop computers. And Facebook's short-term problems include the expiration of a lock-up period on Thursday that had kept early investors from selling. Groupon lost another 5% to close at 4.75 dollars. It has now set a new low every day since Tuesday. Its woes include foreign-exchange rates in Europe and a worry that its business isn't very hard for competitors to copy.
Health care stocks declined a half per cent, the biggest drop among the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500. Pharmaceutical companies led the decline. Pfizer fell 1 per cent and Merck dropped 1.4%. And computer chip maker Marvell Technology Group stock dropped 14% after a revenue decline sliced its quarterly net income by more than half. Its CEO cited a slowing economy for the trouble.
© 2013 Press Association