Closing Market Summary: Slim Losses Ahead of Thanksgiving WeekStocks ended a rather uneventful Friday session modestly lower as investors turned their attention to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday week.
The Dow lost 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Small caps outperformed, sending the Russell 2000 higher by 0.4%.
Most of the S&P 500's 11 sectors finished Friday in negative territory, but losses were pretty modest overall. The top-weighted technology sector (-0.7%) showed relative weakness, as did the utilities (-0.7%) and real estate (-0.6%) groups, while the other laggards finished with losses of no more than 0.5%.
On the flip side, the energy sector advanced 0.4% to register its only win of the week. Energy shares climbed in tandem with the price of crude oil, which managed to retrace just about all of its weekly decline; West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped 2.5% to $56.71 per barrel, ending the week with a slim loss of 0.1%.
Retail shares also advanced on Friday, thanks to an overwhelmingly positive batch of quarterly earnings.
Foot Locker (FL 40.82, +8.97), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF 15.55, +3.00), and Shoe Carnival (SCVL 26.75, +6.12) were the top performers, adding between 23.9% and 29.7%, after all three companies reported better-than-expected profits for the third quarter. Abercrombie & Fitch and Shoe Carnival also provided upbeat sales guidance.
Similarly, Ross Stores (ROST 72.25, +6.56) and Gap (GPS 29.40, +1.92) added 10.0% and 7.0%, respectively, following upbeat results.
In other corporate news, 21st Century Fox (FOXA 31.15, +1.83) climbed 6.2% following reports that Comcast (CMCSA 36.16, -0.91) is interested in acquiring a substantial piece of the company and Tesla (TSLA 315.05, +2.55) added 0.8% after unveiling its new semi truck and next-generation Roadster.
U.S. Treasuries ended on a mixed note, pushing the 2yr-10yr spread lower by three basis points to 63 bps. The yield on the 2-yr Treasury note climbed two basis points to 1.72%, while the benchmark 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 2.35%.
Elsewhere, equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region finished Friday mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng adding 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, European bourses were weak on Friday, sending the Euro Stoxx 50 lower by 0.5%.
Reviewing Friday's economic data, which was limited to October Housing Starts and Building Permits:
- Housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.290 million units in October (consensus 1.198 million), up from a revised 1.135 million units in September (from 1.127 million). Building permits increased to a seasonally adjusted 1.297 million in October (consensus 1.243 million) from a revised 1.225 million in September (from 1.215 million).
- The key takeaway from the report is that it will be a positive input for fourth quarter GDP forecasts as the number of units under construction --1.096 million -- was slightly ahead of the third quarter average of 1.077 million.
On Monday, investors will receive just one economic report--October Leading Indicators--which will be released at 10:00 ET.
- Nasdaq Composite +26.0% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average +18.2% YTD
- S&P 500 +15.2% YTD
- Russell 2000 +10.0% YTD