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Week Finishes on a High Note for the Markets

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index ended at milestone highs on Friday, as shares posted a third consecutive week of gains when a rise in Google and other technology shares offset a slide in energy stocks.

Nasdaq led gains, bolstered by a 1 percent rise in Google’s stock.

Indexes were flat for much of the session, but managed a late-day surge. On Thursday, the S. P. 500 broke a five-day streak of new closing highs.

Stocks have risen on the Federal Reserve’s bond buying and some encouraging corporate earnings, but analysts said the momentum could wane without further positive signs.

“I think it’s going to be hard to maintain these levels in the short term,” said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Maryland, which has about $13 billion in assets.

“There are not a lot of positive catalysts to keep it going,” she said, noting that spending cuts by the federal government could pressure the economy in the near term.

Oil prices tumbled as the dollar hit a four-and-a-half-year high against the yen, and the dollar index was on track for its strongest week in 10 months against other major currencies. A strong dollar makes commodities priced in dollars, like gold and oil, more expensive for foreign investors, pressuring shares of energy and basic materials companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 35.87 points, or 0.24 percent, at 15,118.49. The S. P. 500 was up 7.03 points, or 0.43 percent, at 1,633.70. The Nasdaq composite index was up 27.41 points, or 0.80 percent, at 3,436.58.

The S. P. 500 is up 14.6 percent for the year. For the week, the Dow rose 1 percent, the S. P. 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq 1.7 percent.

Among energy stocks, Exxon Mobil lost 1 percent to $90.14.

Shares of Hess slid 2.3 percent to $69.30. John B. Hess, its chief executive and son of the company’s founder, is being stripped of his duties as chairman as the oil and gas company scrambles to keep an activist investor at bay.

The S. P. energy index dropped 0.5 percent as Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices fell.

Shares of Priceline jumped 3.8 percent to $765.41, a day after the online travel company reported a first-quarter profit that topped estimates.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 25/32 to 98 21/32. Its yield rose to 1.90 percent, from 1.81 percent.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Euro Closes In on Low for the Year

European leaders last Friday announced measures to shore up battered market confidence in the currency, trotting out stricter rules governing public finances in the euro zone and more money for a bailout fund. But confusion on just how and when the measures will be implemented and the European Central Bank’s refusal to increase bond-buying have left sentiment close to where it was before a brief burst of hope after the meeting.

In the foreign exchange market, the dollar has been the main beneficiary of the European debt crisis, gaining almost 5 percent against the basket of currencies the Intercontinental Exchange uses to compile its dollar index.

Interest in the euro has also faded among money market managers since the E.C.B. last week cut its main interest rate target, narrowing the differential that short-term euro-based assets enjoy over dollar assets.

In afternoon trading, the euro was at $1.2994 from $1.3037 late Tuesday in New York, not far above its 2011 closing low of $1.2907, set in January. Stocks in Europe were down about 1 percent.

On Wednesday, Italy — the world’s seventh-largest economy, but with the third-largest debt — sold €3 billion, or $3.9 billion, of five-year bonds, paying 6.47 percent, ticking up from 6.30 percent last month.

The German government, meanwhile, sold €4.2 billion of two-year notes priced to yield 0.25 percent, the lowest ever. The result, along with declines in stock markets, suggests investors are fleeing for the assets — like German government securities — that are perceived as safest.

Even if Europe ultimately dodges a euro disaster, it is still facing a grim economic forecast as the crisis weighs on confidence and markets overseas slow. Industrial production in the 17-nation euro zone fell by 0.1 percent in October from September, following a 2.0 percent decline a month earlier, according to Eurostat , the European Union’s statistical agency in Luxembourg. From a year earlier, production grew by 1.3 percent.

Ben May, an economist in London with Capital Economics, said in a research note that with the fear that the debt crisis will worsen, Europe’s gross domestic product would likely contract in the fourth quarter of 2011, “to mark the beginning of another deep recession,” shrinking by about 1 percent in 2012.

In that respect, a lower euro — which could help European companies to compete overseas — would be something of a boon.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=443a3cdbe43c8fde344832cd153d88f2

Week Finishes on a High Note for the Markets

Euro Closes In on Low for the Year

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