U.S. Market Indexes Higher as Yellen is Dovish on Rate Increase

U.S. market indexes were higher Friday as GDP was revised up 0.30 percent and Yellen was dovish on the next rate increase which tracked market sentiment. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17873.22 for a gain of 44.93 points or 0.25 percent. The S&P 500 was higher at 2099.06 for a gain of 8.96 points or 0.43 percent. The Nasdaq Composite was higher at 4933.50 for a gain of 31.74 points or 0.65 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 13.15 for a loss of -0.28 points or -2.08 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

For the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 2.10 percent. The S&P 500 was higher by 2.25 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was higher by 3.41 percent.

Friday’s Market Movers

Friday included the leading economic indicators for the week with the second estimate of GDP released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The second estimate was revised up to 0.80 percent from 0.50 percent which is still below consensus of 0.90 percent. Corporate profits for the first quarter were down 3.6 percent which matched the fourth quarter’s decrease of 3.6 percent. Consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index was at 94.7 which was below consensus of 95.5. Overall the economic indicators are mainly flat with a flat outlook for the remainder of the year.

Stocks trading actively for the day included Bank of America, Baxalta, Apple, Micron Technology, Alcoa, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc. and Applied Materials.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the top gains and losses included the following:

UnitedHealth Group 0.73 percent

Goldman Sachs Group 0.57 percent

 

Apple -0.08 percent

Wal-Mart Stores -0.1 percent

Sectors leading gains included financial and technology. In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.95 or -0.81 percent. The dollar was higher for the day with the U.S. Dollar Index at 95.75 up 0.64 percent.

The Nasdaq Composite was higher at 4933.50 for a gain of 31.74 points or 0.65 percent. The Nasdaq 100 closed at 4511.17 for a gain of 23.21 points or 0.52 percent. In the technology sector the top gains included the following:

Micron Technology 3.01 percent

Yahoo 2.88 percent

NetApp 1.65 percent

Alphabet 1.45 percent

Western Digital 1.37 percent

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 followed the day’s trend higher closing at 1150.45 for a gain of 10.69 points or 0.94 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 702.84 for a gain of 5.86 points or 0.84 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7067.19 for a gain of 65.62 points or 0.94 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM closed at 8276.99 for a gain of 54.13 points or 0.66 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1492.07 for a gain of 11.42 points or 0.77 percent; the Russell 3000 which closed at 1236.62 for a gain of 5.92 points or 0.48 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 591.50 for a gain of 2.23 points or 0.38 percent.