US close: Nasdaq climbs back towards early-2000 highs
The main US equity gauges finished slightly higher on Friday, on the second lightest trading volumes of the year and with just a handful of sessions left until the end of 2014.
Gilead Sciences Inc.
$64.92
04:55 26/04/24
Nasdaq 100
17,652.08
04:55 26/04/24
Both the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 managed to hit intra-day record highs in the previous trading session and did so again on Friday.
The S&P 500 was up by 7 points to 2,089 and the Dow Jones Industrials by another 24 points to 18,054 by the end of trading. However, the largest gains were to be seen in the Russell 2000, a gauge for the shares of small-capitalisation companies and this year´s laggard.
For its part, the Nasdaq Composite continued to climb back towards its record highs, from early 2000. The benchmark for technology stocks advanced by 33.39 points to hit 4,806.86.
There was little in terms of company news-flow for markets to trade off of. Nevertheless, what economic and geopolitical news was to be had served as a reminder of the multiple headwinds which US stocks were still facing.
On Friday morning, Libyan government forces launched airstrikes against rebel artillery units which had fired on the Es Sider oil export terminal earlier in the week. At last count that Mediterranean country´s oil production was running at approximately 352,000 barrels a day, versus the about 850,000 barrel a day pace reached in October.
In parallel, data out overnight in Japan revealed that real wages fell at a 4.3% year-on-year clip in November, their largest drop since December 2009.
From a sector standpoint the best performance was to be seen in the followng industrial groups: Non-ferrous metals (2.62%), Biotechnology (2.17%) and Consumer electronics (1.99%).
Shares in biotechnology outfit Gilead Sciences outperformed after RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee told clients the firm could easily buy back $10bn over the coming year.
Front month West Texas crude futures dropped 1.25% to reach $55.14 per barrel on the NYMEX.
US 10-year Treasury yields were lower by one basis point to 2.25%.
S&P 500 - Risers
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $113.35 +3.42%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $413.48 +3.34%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $12.82 +3.22%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $187.49 +3.04%
AES Corp. (AES) $14.22 +2.97%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $118.41 +2.83%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $93.79 +2.74%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $23.51 +2.62%
Sempra Energy (SRE) $114.86 +2.47%
NiSource Inc. (NI) $44.08 +2.32%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $26.97 -3.19%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $47.22 -2.64%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $54.57 -2.08%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $51.36 -2.06%
EQT Corp. (EQT) $75.86 -2.04%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $49.86 -1.68%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $29.88 -1.09%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $133.66 -1.07%
Cimarex Energy Co (XEC) $110.88 -0.96%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $111.50 -0.94%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $94.78 +1.01%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $31.65 +0.73%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $95.03 +0.65%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.17 +0.62%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $96.83 +0.56%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $57.78 +0.56%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $86.91 +0.56%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $94.23 +0.54%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $75.13 +0.45%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $105.06 +0.45%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $93.21 -0.61%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $47.88 -0.54%
3M Co. (MMM) $166.26 -0.42%
Visa Inc. (V) $266.62 -0.38%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $195.45 -0.22%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $113.25 -0.19%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.78 -0.19%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $102.55 -0.13%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $106.70 -0.02%