Closing Market Summary: Wall Street Locks In Big Weekly GainsEquities ticked higher on Friday, locking in big gains for the week, as a positive performance from the health care sector narrowly outweighed a modest pullback from the information technology group. The S&P 500 and the Dow added 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed, closing a tick below its flat line. All three indices finished with weekly gains of more than 2.0%.
The market drifted flat to slightly higher for the bulk of Friday's session, but volatility picked up briefly in the afternoon when President Trump unveiled a blueprint for lowering drug prices. The president plans to increase competition within the drug space and to change rules that have allowed some drugmakers to game the system. The blueprint lacked many details, however, prompting a sigh of relief from investors, who were worried about the possibility of imminent regulation. Health-related names rallied into the close, leaving the S&P 500's health care sector with a gain of 1.5%.
Telecom services was the only group to outperform health care on Friday, largely thanks to Verizon (VZ 48.62, +1.42), which rallied after JPMorgan upgraded shares to 'Overweight' from 'Neutral'; the telecom services group finished with a gain of 2.1%, while Verizon shares ended higher by 3.0%.
The only other sectors to finish in the green were industrials, consumer discretionary, and utilities, but their gains were modest at 0.2% apiece. On the downside, six sectors finished in the red, but no group lost more than 0.5%. The technology group was among the worst performers, closing lower by 0.3%, which posed a problem for the broader market given the group's huge influence; technology is the top-weighted S&P 500 sector, representing around a quarter of the broader market alone.
Shares of chipmaker NVIDIA (NVDA 254.53, -5.60) declined 2.2%, retreating from an all-time high, amid a "sell the news" response to the company's first quarter results, which came in better-than-expected. Separately, Apple (AAPL 188.59, -0.72) shares broke their nine-session winning streak, slipping 0.4%, and shares of Symantec (SYMC 19.52, -9.66) plunged 33.1% after the company announced that it has relayed concerns from an ex-employee to the SEC.
Outside of equities, U.S. Treasuries finished Friday on a flattish note, with the benchmark 10-yr yield holding steady at 2.97%. Meanwhile, WTI crude futures declined 0.9% to $70.70 per barrel, slipping from a three-and-a-half year high, and the U.S. Dollar Index dropped for the third day in a row, slipping 0.2% to 92.41.
Reviewing Friday's economic data, which was limited to April Import/Export Prices and the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for May:
- Import prices excluding oil rose 0.2% in April after rising a revised 0.1% in March (from +0.2%). Export prices excluding agriculture increased 0.7% after holding flat last month (revised from -0.1%).
- The key takeaway from the report is that overall import price pressures moderated on a year-over-year basis while nonfuel import prices remain at palatable levels on a year-over-year basis.
- The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for May held steady at 98.8 (consensus 98.0).
- The key takeaway from the report is that there was some slippage in income expectations and a small uptick in the one-year inflation expectation to 2.8% from 2.7%.
Investors will not receive any economic data on Monday.
- Nasdaq Composite: +7.2% YTD
- Russell 2000: +4.6% YTD
- S&P 500: +2.0% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.5% YTD