Stellar earnings results provided sufficient impetus to markets as they edged modestly higher on Friday, amidst lingering concerns about debt-ceiling negotiations. The week also closed with gains as earnings provided enough cushion for the benchmarks to settle in the green.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was the only benchmark to end in the red as it dropped 0.3% to finish the day at 12,681.16. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) gained 1.2% to end the day at 1,345.02. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 2,858.83, after gaining 0.9%. On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), consolidated volumes remained low at 3.3 billion shares. The markets’ breadth or the advance decline ratio was roughly even.
With the likes of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Analyst Report), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - Analyst Report) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Analyst Report) posting strong earnings results throughout the week, the markets happily settled in positive territory. Despite the fall in the Dow on the closing day of the week, the blue-chip index was up 1.6% for the week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 2.2% and 2.5% respectively for the week.
On Friday, no significant economic reports were scheduled which could provide the market with direction, and it was left to corporate results to guide the benchmarks. However, the blue-chip index finished lower amidst encouraging results after a significant component, namely Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Analyst Report) plunged 5.8% after its results fell shy of estimates. Caterpillar’s results are of special significance as its business of selling construction and mining machinery spans the entire globe.
Corporate results did much to lift investor sentiment on Friday. Boosted by robust results from tech-heavyweights Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD - Analyst Report) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Analyst Report) the broader markets enjoyed a rally negating disappointing results from Caterpillar. The two tech stocks were up 19.2% and 1.6%, respectively. Read More
