The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,606.31 on Friday with a gain of 112.11 points or 0.39%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,483.81 for a gain of 0.47 points or 0.01%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,671.56 for a loss of 42.32 points or-0.36%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 27.41 for a gain of 0.44 points or 1.63%.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1%, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%. For the year, the Nasdaq is up 30.55%, the S&P 500 is up 7.83% and the Dow Jones is down 0.16%.
Friday's market movers
U.S. indexes ended mostly flat Friday and for the week. Utilities led gains for the day and energy led losses. The September retail sales report beat expectations with an increase of 1.9%. From the financial sector, State Street (STT, Financial), Bank of New York Mellon (BK, Financial), Citizens Financial (CFG, Financial) and Ally Financial (ALLY, Financial) reported earnings.
Investors traded somewhat cautiously Friday following Thursday evening's dueling presidential candidate town halls, which showed Biden's ratings higher, in discussions heavily focused on the pandemic and the economy. Pfizer (PFE, Financial) said it could have an emergency use Covid-19 vaccine ready by the end of November. On Capitol Hill, congressional officials continued to discuss a stimulus bill that could potentially include another stimulus check approved before the Nov. 3 election.
Across the board, the following stocks led gains and losses Friday:
- Navistar International (NAV, Financial) +22.70%
- Aldeyra Therapeutics (ALDX, Financial) +18.08%
- Zoom Video Communications (ZM, Financial) +4.21%
- Pfizer (PFE, Financial) +3.83%
- Nikola Corp. (NKLA) -16.12%
- Meridian Bioscience (VIVO, Financial) -7.40%
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- Retail sales increased 1.9% in September, beating the expectation of 0.5%. Year over year, retail sales increased 5.4%.
- The Federal Reserve released its Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report. Industrial production decreased 0.6% in September and decreased 7.3% year over year. Manufacturing production decreased 0.3% and decreased 6% year over year. Capacity utilization decreased to 71.5% from 72%.
- The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 81.2 in October from 80.4.
- Business inventories increased 0.3% in August following an increase of 0.1%.
- According to the Baker Hughes weekly oil rig count, oil rigs in Canada were unchanged, U.S. oil rigs increased by 13 and international oil rigs decreased by 45.
- The Treasury's September Monthly Budget Statement showed a deficit of $125 billion following a deficit of $200 billion.
- From the Treasury International Capital report, overall net capital flows were $86.3 billion in August, foreign bond investment was -$33.1 billion and net long-term Treasury international capital flows were $27.8 billion.
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,633.81 for a loss of 5.07 points or -0.31%. The S&P 600 closed at 923.71 for a loss of 5.86 points or -0.63%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 11,578.43 for a loss of 22.80 points or -0.20%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 7,325.32 for a loss of 37.35 points or -0.51%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,997.34 for a loss of 5.48 points or -0.27%; the S&P 100 at 1,610.76 with no change; the Nasdaq 100 at 11,852.17 for a loss of 46.41 points or -0.39%; the Russell 3000 at 2,051.06 for a loss of 0.93 points or -0.045%; the Russell 1000 at 1,947.02 for a loss of 0.57 points or -0.029%; the Wilshire 5000 at 35,772.22 for a loss of 29.64 points or -0.083%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 618.84 for a gain of 0.18 points or 0.029%.
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