US close: Stocks end flat as investors parse Fed remarks
Wall Street ended slightly mixed on Friday as investors digested remarks from two Fed officials which appeared to leave the door open to a Fed rate hike in September.
The Dow Jones Industrials ended the day lower by 0.07% at 16,643.01 points and the S&P 500 0.32% higher to 1,988.87.
In remarks to CNBC, US Federal Reserve Vice chairman Stanley Fischer said it was too soon to draw firm conclusions on the possible implications of recent volatility in financial markets and policy moves from China on the timing of interest rate hikes by the US central bank.
"I think it's early to tell: The change in the circumstances which began with the Chinese devaluation is relatively new and we're still watching how it unfolds, so I wouldn't want to go ahead and decide right now what the case is — more compelling, less compelling, et cetera," he said.
"There was a pretty strong case" for a September hike, Fischer also remarked, but that had not yet become a conclusion, he added.
For his part, James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of St.Louis, told Reuters he still preferred raising rates in September.
Those two officials were speaking on the sidelines of this year´s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, where the world´s central bankers were expected to exchange their views on the global economy, inflation and monetary policy.
Mixed economic data
Workers´ incomes expanded by 0.4% month-on-month in July, according to the Commerce Department, just as expected by economists.
Personal consumption expenditures, meanwhile, increased by 0.3% over the month, a tenth of a percentage point less than anticipated. That led Goldman Sachs to pare its tracking estimate for third quarter GDP growth to 2.3% from 2.5%.
The University of Michigan´s consumer confidence index for August dipped to a reading of 91.9 after a print of 93.1 at the start of the month.
M&A name of the game in healthcare
Shares in mining group Freeport-McMoRan surged another 3% after soaring 18% late in the previous session, as billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed a stake in the group and saying its shares are undervalued, according to a filing.
Baxalta proved a drag on the healthcare space. The company is in talks to purchase a rival in an attempt to fend off a hostile $30bn takeover offer from Shire. Mylan shares were down after shareholders approved moving forward with a hostile bid for Perrigo.
From a sector standpoint the largest gains were seen in the following industrial groups: Aluminium (6.21%), Coal (3.99%) and Platinum (3.41%).
Front month crude futures jumped 6.51% to stand at $45.33 per barrel by the end of trading on the NYMEX.
Ten year US Treasury notes were little changed, yielding 2.18% by the closing bell.
S&P 500 - Risers
Avon Products Inc. (AVP) $5.16 +7.72%
Rowan Companies plc (RDC) $17.81 +6.84%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.41 +6.21%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $11.40 +5.85%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $24.29 +5.47%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $34.28 +5.41%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $4.16 +5.32%
QEP Resources Inc (QEP) $13.70 +5.30%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $7.39 +5.27%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $121.28 +5.11%
S&P 500 - Fallers
GameStop Corp. (GME) $42.49 -8.03%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $47.52 -4.96%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $50.37 -2.18%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $85.39 -1.99%
Robert Half International Inc. (RHI) $51.44 -1.98%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $32.66 -1.80%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $64.94 -1.73%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $50.43 -1.72%
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) $46.22 -1.68%
Kroger Co. (KR) $34.94 -1.66%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $80.43 +3.59%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $28.42 +2.53%
Boeing Co. (BA) $133.24 +1.04%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $55.37 +0.76%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.16 +0.60%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $39.45 +0.46%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $75.95 +0.38%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $113.29 +0.33%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $102.48 +0.30%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $75.07 +0.29%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $32.66 -1.80%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $64.94 -1.73%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $96.25 -1.11%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $95.17 -1.09%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $100.43 -0.96%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $187.75 -0.77%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $26.00 -0.65%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $64.13 -0.54%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $117.28 -0.42%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $71.21 -0.38%