Markets finish mixed on oil worries
Stocks drifted to a mixed finish Friday as Wall Street worried about the impact of high oil prices on the nation’s trade deficit and Intel Corp.’s bullish sales forecast prompted some profit-taking. The major indexes also were mixed for the week.
Investors were concerned that high oil prices, which helped boost the April trade deficit by 6 percent, would further weigh on the economy and drag on stocks. According to the Commerce Department, the trade deficit rose to $56.96 billion from $53.56 billion in March. While that was a smaller increase than expected, oil imports rose to the second-highest level on record — enough to raise concerns that high oil prices would weigh on consumer spending as well as business costs.
Despite Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s relatively positive assesment of the economy on Thursday, Wall Street’s economic worries were not assuaged, and many investors were hoping for better news from second-quarter earnings and, ideally, stronger economic data in the weeks ahead.
“The values are no longer there, the economy is slowing, interest rates are taking their toll and are starting to slow economic growth,” said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. in Greewich, Conn. “The market is not going to be as resillient; gains aren’t as sustainable, action is choppier.”
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.61, or 0.09 percent, to 10,512.63.
Broader stock indicators lost ground. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.82, or 0.23 percent, to 1,198.11, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 13.91, or 0.67 percent, to 2,063.00.
Bonds sold off heavily as investors continued to react to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s bullish assessment of the economy Thursday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.04 percent from 3.95 percent late Thursday. The dollar fell against most currencies, while gold prices rose.
The week’s trading was marked by a lack of hard economic news and continued uncertainty over the health of the economy, despite Greenspan’s forecast. For the week, the Dow rose 0.49 percent, the S&P climbed 0.17 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.41 percent.
Investors’ fears were heightened as crude futures held on to a large part of Thursday’s sharp gains. A barrel of light crude settled at $53.54, down 74 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude futures were up $1.74 on Thursday.
Declining issues barely outnumbered advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where preliminary consolidated volume came to 1.66 billion shares, compared to 1.84 billion on Thursday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 0.10, or 0.02 percent, at 626.33.
Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.28 percent. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.42 percent, France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.73 percent, and Germany’s DAX index gained 0.51 percent.