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US stocks close out their best week

14 September 2009 07:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku- APA-Economics. U.S. stocks closed out their best week in a month slightly to the downside Friday as traders took profits in Bank of America and Chevron, while Federal Express offset the market decline and paced a basket of other transportation stocks into the green, Ibtimes reported.

Snapping a five-day winning streak, the Dow Jones closed Friday down 0.23% to 9605.41. Notably, Friday’s close was within 0.10 points from the close the day before the September 11 terrorist attacks. On the session, decliners were led by Bank of America off 1.5% to 16.97; JPMorgan, down 1.2% at 42.50; and Chevron, which slid 1% to 70.75.

Helped by banks, the Dow closed this week up 1.74%. Chevron was hurt by a 3.7% drop in crude oil prices, though oil snapped a two-week losing streak. Among other indexes, the S&P finished Friday down 0.14% to 1042.73, ending the week off 2.59%. The Nasdaq lost 0.15% to 2080.90 on Friday, and closed the week down 3.08%. For both indexes, it was the best weekly performance on a point and percent basis since the week ended July 24. For both Friday and the week as a whole, transports were the hottest sector.

European shares closed higher for the seventh straight session Friday, with miners and automakers that benefit from emerging-markets demand leading the way to a fresh 11-month high. After a modest rise Thursday, the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 finished with an advance of 0.5% to 241.78 for the session and a rise of over 3% on the week. Every Stoxx 600 sector but telecoms traded higher. Regional markets were also firm, with the U.K.’s FTSE 100 up 0.5% to 5,011.47, the French CAC-40 adding 0.8% to 3,734.89 and the German DAX up 0.5% to 5,624.02. At the forefront of the market’s 56% rally since March, metals companies were once more among the strongest Stoxx 600 sector performers Friday. Steelmaker Salzgitter rose 5.3% and silver miner Fresnillo rose 5.1%. Volkswagen, which announced Chinese investment plans, added 4.4%, while Fiat shares jumped 4.7%. The Italian automaker was upgraded to outperform from underperform by Credit Suisse.

Base metals on the London Metal Exchange traded mostly lower Friday in Europe, staying near the low of the previous session. The dollar was generally weaker, which usually causes metal prices to rise, but not Friday. London Metal Exchange official cash ask prices were: copper $6290 tonne, tin $14,820, lead $2109.50, zinc $1915, aluminium $1820 and nickel $17,255. Most-active gold futures settled above the closely watched $1,000-an-ounce level, supported by further weakness in the U.S. dollar and with traders using a correction lower earlier in the week as a buying opportunity. Other precious metals followed suit, with all but palladium hitting multi-month highs. December gold rose $9.60 to $1,006.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December silver rose 3 cents to $16.70.
Crude oil futures prices settled lower Friday, posting the biggest single-day loss in two weeks on worries over near-term supplies outpacing demand. Light, sweet crude oil for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled $2.65, lower at $69.29 a barrel. That was the biggest decline since August 31 and followed four days of gains that pushed prices up by nearly $4 a barrel. Heavy selling swept through the market when crude couldn’t punch through the $73-a-barrel level, setting up a steep decline to a low of $68.82. ICE Brent crude oil for October delivery settled down $2.17 a barrel, at $67.69 a barrel.