By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks turned positive and crude prices were on track for their biggest weekly drop in a month as weak data and disappointing corporate earnings added to worries over softening global demand.
Gold, meanwhile, muscled past the $2,700 mark for the first time ever.
“Gold is having a strong run because of the breadth of uncertainties,” Greg Bassuk, Chief Executive Officer at AXS Investments in New York. “It’s the safe-haven play and investors would be prudent to diversify their portfolios safe-haven allocations amid this deep level of uncertainty.”
A rally in Chinese stocks in reaction to Beijing’s latest policy steps to boost demand appeared to have a limited effect on Wall Street stocks.
Tech-adjacent megacap momentum stocks boosted the Nasdaq, while the S&P 500’s and the Dow’s gains were more modest.
All three indexes, however, have set course for their sixth consecutive week of gains.
A spate of earnings ran the gamut from upbeat to dour, with streaming platform Netflix showing strong subscriber additions, while consumer products company Procter & Gamble reported a surprise drop in sales due to slowing demand for its products.
“Netflix got the tech sector going, and when one sector is strong usually people sell the other sectors, so the Nasdaq is leading and the Dow is lagging,” said Jay Hatfield, Chief Executive Officer at Infrastructure Capital Management in New York. “But a few days ago the exact opposite was happening, So it’s a classic market melt-up.”
“People are responding to global rate cuts, and the U.S. economy strong,” Hatfield added. “The only uncertainty is the election. “The only uncertainty is the election, but it seems like people are getting more comfortable with that outcome as well.””
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.17 points, or 0.15%, to 43,301.52, the S&P 500 rose 26.92 points, or 0.46%, to 5,868.39 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 133.66 points, or 0.73%, to 18,507.27.
European stocks closed higher, helped by a resurgence in tech stocks at the conclusion of a choppy week, which included mixed earnings and an interest rate cut from the European Central Bank. The STOXX 600 logged its second weekly advance.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 5.04 points, or 0.59%, to 857.11. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.21%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 4.81 points, or 0.23%
Emerging market stocks rose 19.59 points, or 1.73%, to 1,154.72.
U.S. Treasury yields dropped as the market consolidated following large increases over the last month as market participants grew accustomed to a less dovish Fed in the face of stronger-than-expected economic data.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 2.1 basis points to 4.075%, from 4.096% late on Thursday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 2.8 basis points to 3.959%, from 3.987% late on Thursday.
The dollar dipped after five straight sessions of gains as risk appetite improved in the wake of Beijing’s stimulus announcement. But the greenback looked set to log its third consecutive weekly gain.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.27% to 103.50, with the euro up 0.3% at $1.0864.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.47% to 149.5.
Front-month oil futures dropped and were on course for their biggest weekly slide since early September due to mounting concerns about Chinese demand and investors parsed a mixed outlook regarding the Middle East conflict.
U.S. crude fell 2.05% to $69.22 a barrel, while Brent fell to $73.06 per barrel, down 1.87% on the day.
Gold prices busted through the $2,700 mark for the first time as the safe haven metal continues to benefit from global uncertainties.
Spot gold rose 0.99% to $2,719.28 an ounce.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Iain Withers in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Nick Zieminski)
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