US close: Traders goose stocks higher ahead of G-7, critical week of risk events
Wall Street finished higher on Friday, recovering from early losses amid investors' worries ahead of the G7 summit in Canada at the weekend, which looked set to be an acrimonious two days of talks.
By the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial was up 0.30% or 75.12 points to 25,316.53, while the S&P 500 had gained 0.31% or 8.66 points to 2,779.03 as the Nasdaq Composite added 0.14% or 10.44 points to 7,645.51.
From a sector standpoint, the best performing areas of the market were: Home construction (3.28%), Tobacco (2.23%) and Mortgage Finance (2.19%).
For the week as a whole, the S&P 500 clocked in with an advance of 44.1 points.
In the background, the US dollar sank 5.09% to 3.7083 versus the Brazilian real, helping to soothe emerging markets investors' frayed nerves, after the head of Brazil's central bank indicated that he was more than willing to ramp-up its interventions in FX markets in order to prop up the currency.
To take note of, traders were also bracing for an extraordinarily busy week in the macroeconomic and geopolitical arena, ahead of a 12 June summit between Trump and his North Korean counterpart, policy meetings at the Fed, ECB and Bank of Japan and a decision from the White on whether to impose tariffs on $50bn-worth of Chinese goods.
Speaking from Canada, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that he won't sign the traditional joint statement unless progress is made on tariffs, while Germany's Angela Merkel said she would challenge Trump on trade, climate and security.
Overnight, Trump had tweeted: "Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things [...] but he doesn’t bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy - hurting our Farmers, killing our agriculture!"
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "While Trump has at times appeared friendly with certain other heads of state in the past, the relationships have at least appeared to have become more hostile since tariffs were imposed on the European Union, Canada and Mexico by the US last week. The G7 meeting has become more like a G6+1, with Trump choosing to isolate the US on a number of issues from trade to Iran and climate change."
On the corporate front, shares of Broadcom were 2.54% weaker after its quarterly earnings late on Thursday, while US-listed shares of Deutsche Bank were down 2.26% following a report that it was exploring a possible merger with Commerzbank.
GE shares ticked up 1.09% after the industrial powerhouse said its quarterly dividend would remain at $0.12 a share, and shares in French therapeutics firm EDAP skyrocketed 62.90% to be the Nasdaq's biggest gainer after the ultrasound company received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration to market its Focal One device.
The flow of economic data was light at the end of the week, with US wholesale inventories coming in a touch higher than initially estimated in April.
Wholesale inventories edged up 0.1% month-on-month in April the Commerce Department said, ahead of forecasts for an unchanged reading, following a 0.2% rise in March.
Dow Jones - Risers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $77.18 1.87%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $103.98 1.47%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $131.32 1.19%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $43.95 1.17%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $198.33 1.10%
General Electric Co. (GE) $13.93 1.09%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $62.58 0.95%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $83.60 0.87%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $101.63 0.74%
3M Co. (MMM) $206.54 0.74%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $55.05 -1.49%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $191.70 -0.91%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $84.31 -0.69%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $155.34 -0.62%
American Express Co. (AXP) $101.00 -0.47%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $126.38 -0.41%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $43.48 -0.39%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $168.91 -0.34%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $233.39 -0.03%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $127.58 0.02%
S&P 500 - Risers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $55.48 5.02%
Allergan plc (AGN) $170.35 4.34%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $44.19 4.12%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $32.55 3.86%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $17.03 3.46%
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $52.97 3.38%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $150.55 3.29%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $19.33 3.26%
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) $142.23 3.17%
Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $24.31 3.14%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $12.97 -3.86%
Wyndham Destinations Inc. (WYND) $48.24 -3.02%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $99.81 -2.61%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $257.97 -2.54%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $34.06 -2.27%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $65.38 -1.85%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $7.67 -1.79%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $48.10 -1.70%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.11 -1.67%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $69.54 -1.63%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $55.48 5.02%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $150.55 3.29%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $61.39 2.95%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $346.67 2.17%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $67.07 2.01%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $90.33 1.71%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $48.89 1.71%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $243.58 1.65%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $251.21 1.49%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $70.01 1.43%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $99.81 -2.61%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $257.97 -2.54%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.11 -1.67%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $69.54 -1.63%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $253.06 -1.50%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $114.20 -1.49%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $55.05 -1.49%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $115.74 -1.28%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $56.60 -0.95%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $191.70 -0.91%