The stock market benchmarks in the US remained a little unchanged on Friday and posted modest losses overall as the investors remained skeptical about the strong corporate results. The results came from some of the largest companies in the market and industry yet the investors’ confidence in the market remained mixed.
Out of all the major companies, three big capitalization technology and Internet companies did report better than expected results. The stocks did gain in response of these earnings but they rounded off their highs and advanced. Overall, they moved towards a rally.
Exxon Mobil also reported tepid earnings and important US data that showed that the economy has a decelerating economic growth, also capped the mood of investors.
This week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 11.15 points or in terms of percentage, less than 0.1 percent, as it settled at 24,311.19. Moreover, the S&P 500 index closed 2.97 points higher, as it settled at 2670.91. The gain in the index was just 0.1 percent. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 1.12 points, settling at 7119.80 and remained unchanged.
For the whole week, the Dow dropped by 0.6 percent while the Nasdaq lost about 0.4 percent. Moreover, the S&P closed down 0.0.1 percent lower. These statistics were enough to show that the stocks remained low this week and the overall momentum was slow as well.
There were a few major gainers in stocks this week. Amazon reported a 3.60 percent high, as their shares closed 3.6 percent higher. The tech giant reported that its quarterly profits had doubled and it also announced a 20 percent rise in its Prime subscription rates. Overall, the fact that Amazon did better than expectations was a major push for the company, as it sent its stocks higher. Amazon also hit an all time high- intra record of $1638.10 during early hours of trading and it also did close off high but below its record at $1598.39.
On the other hand, Microsoft Corp increased by 1.7 percent and touched an intraday high of $97.90. The company revealed that it did better than expectations and by following strong guidance, it managed to do well in the market. However, Intel suffered as Intel Corp declined by 0.60 percent and dropped by 0.6 percent as its quarterly results and outlook beat the forecasts of Wall Street.
Contrarily, Asian markets also had a mixed session. China’s stocks were 0.23 percent down amongst concerns regarding the US. Moreover, the European stocks were 0.23 percent higher and closed modestly and a little bit higher. The US oil prices dropped by 0.32 percent and were 9 cents lower, as they settled at $68.10 per barrel. Gold prices rose 0.47 percent, and settled at $1323.40 per ounce. Finally, the ICE US dollar index dropped by 0.05 percent, though it did outperform itself and managed to do well and better since it ever did since November 2016.
