U.S. markets were mostly lower on Friday as Wall Street wrestled with lingering uncertainty over trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. There were contradicting reports on whether China had agreed to cut its trade surplus with the U.S. by $200 billion, but a China official denied that an offer had been made. The confusion kept many traders on the sidelines and the market in a tighter range with volatility remaining rather calm and the major indexes finishing mixed for the week.
The Russell 2000 closed at an all-time high for the 3rd-straight session after adding 0.1% and reaching an intraday peak of 1,630. The small-caps were up 1.3% for the week, its third straight positive week, and have closed higher in 11 of the past 14 sessions.The Nasdaq declined 0.4% after trading in negative territory throughout the session with the low tapping 7,343. Tech closed below the 7,400 level for the first time in four sessions and was down 0.7% for the week.The S&P 500 fell 0.3% after bottoming at 2,709 while holding the 2,700 level for the 7th-straight session. The index has closed lower in 3 of the past 4 sessions.The Dow tested a morning high of 24,774 before closing with a 1-point gain, or 0.0%. The index has traded higher in 10 of the past 12 sessions.For the week, both the Dow and the S&P fell 0.5%. It is the third weekly decline in the past four for both indexes.
Eaton (ETN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/MerrillPayPal (PYPL) assumed with a Buy from Neutral at UBSWilliams (WMB) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at ScotiabankApplied Materials (AMAT) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman SachsPlanet Fitness (PLNT) downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Imperial CapitalSkyworks (SWKS) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Before the open: Cheetah Mobile (CMCM), Huami (HMI), Monro (MNRO), Qudian (QD)After the close: Americas CarMart (CRMT), DPW Holdings (DPW), FTE Networks (FTNW), Nordson (NDSN), Pure Storage (PSTG)
Monday’s economic reports (EST):
Chicago Fed National Activity Index – 8:30am
Gold closed at $1,291.30 an ounce, up $1.90
Silver settled at $16.45 an ounce, down $0.03
Copper finished at $3.06 a pound, down $0.02
Crude Oil is at $71.35 a barrel, down $0.19
Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) ended at $13.53 up $0.01
In a covered call trade, you are buying the underlying stock shares and selling call options against it. [read more]
Make it a great day!
Todd Mitchell
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