U.S. stocks rose on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 posting new closing records, extending their win streak to six sessions. Today brought quadruple witching, the expiration day for stock index futures and options, single stock options and futures, which can boost trading volumes and volatility.
At the closing bell in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled up 26.26 points at 16,947.72 -- a record close -- while the Nasdaq rose 8.71 points to 4,368.04 and the S&P 500 edged up 3.39 points to 1,962.87, the index's 22nd record close of the year. All indexes finished with weekly gains of over 1%.
There were no economic reports on the docket Friday, as investors took a pause following record runs earlier this week on the back of dovish comments from the Fed.
Meanwhile, European markets finished mixed on Friday, but stocks scored weekly advances after the Fed's commitment to low rates on Wednesday, which continued to push indexes closer to multi-year highs. Asian markets also settled mixed today, with Hong Kong edging higher, while Japan's Nikkei posted a moderate loss after surging on Thursday.
President Barack Obama is sending 300 military advisers to help Iraqi security forces deal with the violent insurgency in the country, after ruling out combat troops and immediate airstrikes. Nymex July WTI crude futures rose 83 cents, or 0.8%, to close at $107.26 a barrel as the contract expired. Gold for August delivery added $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,316.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, scoring a 3.3% gain for the week.
In corporate activity, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) shares fell more than 4% Friday after reporting last night a fourth quarter profit of 92 cents per share, missing estimates by 3 pennies. Revenue also came in below Street forecasts. Investors had expected more progress in the company's cloud computing business.
CarMax (NYSE:KMX) reported this morning a stronger than expected profit and revenue for its fiscal first quarter, with shares rising more than 16% Friday on record results.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) also reported quarterly figures this morning, with shares down 4% after the company’s quarterly sales and profit came in weaker than expected.
Gun maker Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:SWHC) shed more than 9% after posting late Thursday lower fourth quarter revenues and a full year earnings outlook below expectations.
In other stock news, Family Dollar Stores (NYSE:FDO) rose over 0.4% as activist investor Carl Icahn, who has a 9.4% stake in the retailer, is demanding the company be put up for sale immediately.
British drug maker Shire (NASDAQ:SHPG) soared more than 16% after rejecting a $46 billion takeover offer from U.S. healthcare firm AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV).
Coach (NYSE:COH) said it will take a charge of $250 to $300 million in the current quarter to close about 70 retail stores in North America, with a substantial amount of the charges to be non-cash. Shares fell more than 2.5% on Friday.
Siemens and Mitsubishi have raised their offer for the energy businesses of France's Alstom by 17% to $11.2 billion, in response to the rival revised bid from General Electric (NYSE:GE). Shares of GE edged up during today's session. Reported by Proactive Investors 14 hours ago.
At the closing bell in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled up 26.26 points at 16,947.72 -- a record close -- while the Nasdaq rose 8.71 points to 4,368.04 and the S&P 500 edged up 3.39 points to 1,962.87, the index's 22nd record close of the year. All indexes finished with weekly gains of over 1%.
There were no economic reports on the docket Friday, as investors took a pause following record runs earlier this week on the back of dovish comments from the Fed.
Meanwhile, European markets finished mixed on Friday, but stocks scored weekly advances after the Fed's commitment to low rates on Wednesday, which continued to push indexes closer to multi-year highs. Asian markets also settled mixed today, with Hong Kong edging higher, while Japan's Nikkei posted a moderate loss after surging on Thursday.
President Barack Obama is sending 300 military advisers to help Iraqi security forces deal with the violent insurgency in the country, after ruling out combat troops and immediate airstrikes. Nymex July WTI crude futures rose 83 cents, or 0.8%, to close at $107.26 a barrel as the contract expired. Gold for August delivery added $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,316.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, scoring a 3.3% gain for the week.
In corporate activity, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) shares fell more than 4% Friday after reporting last night a fourth quarter profit of 92 cents per share, missing estimates by 3 pennies. Revenue also came in below Street forecasts. Investors had expected more progress in the company's cloud computing business.
CarMax (NYSE:KMX) reported this morning a stronger than expected profit and revenue for its fiscal first quarter, with shares rising more than 16% Friday on record results.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) also reported quarterly figures this morning, with shares down 4% after the company’s quarterly sales and profit came in weaker than expected.
Gun maker Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:SWHC) shed more than 9% after posting late Thursday lower fourth quarter revenues and a full year earnings outlook below expectations.
In other stock news, Family Dollar Stores (NYSE:FDO) rose over 0.4% as activist investor Carl Icahn, who has a 9.4% stake in the retailer, is demanding the company be put up for sale immediately.
British drug maker Shire (NASDAQ:SHPG) soared more than 16% after rejecting a $46 billion takeover offer from U.S. healthcare firm AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV).
Coach (NYSE:COH) said it will take a charge of $250 to $300 million in the current quarter to close about 70 retail stores in North America, with a substantial amount of the charges to be non-cash. Shares fell more than 2.5% on Friday.
Siemens and Mitsubishi have raised their offer for the energy businesses of France's Alstom by 17% to $11.2 billion, in response to the rival revised bid from General Electric (NYSE:GE). Shares of GE edged up during today's session. Reported by Proactive Investors 14 hours ago.