Stocks End Higher; Post Weekly Gains
Stocks ended higher in trading on Friday, with all three major indexes finishing the day in green. All three major indexes also rose for the week, with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 posting gains for the sixth straight week.
The Dow Jones ended the day 0.19% higher at 13,275.20, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.19% higher at 1,418.16, and the Nasdaq ended the day 0.46% higher at 3,076.59.
For the week, the Dow Jones gained 0.51%, the S&P 500 gained 0.87%, and the Nasdaq gained 1.84%.
Stocks were pushed higher on Friday by better than expected U.S. economic data. Investors’ sentiment was also lifted by comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. On Thursday, Merkel reiterated her support for the euro and backed European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi’s plans to contain the euro zone debt crisis.
Merkel’s comments also pushed European markets higher on Friday, with the FTSE 100 Index in London ending the day 0.31% higher at 5,852.42, and the CAC 40 Index in Paris ending the day 0.23% higher at 3,488.38. Asian markets also ended mostly higher on Friday.
In the U.S., Consumer Cyclical sector led the gains in the S&P 500 on Friday, ending the day 1.23% higher. Industrials also rose sharply on Friday, ending the day 0.73% higher. Financials ended the day 0.50% higher, while Technology sector ended the day 0.56% higher. Healthcare sector was the worst performer in the S&P 500 on Friday, ending the day 0.50% lower.
Among the major gainers and losers on Friday were Ann Inc. (NYSE: ANN), which ended the day 20.43% higher at $33.89, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), which ended the day 14.17% lower at $10.54, The Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), which ended the day 4.80% higher at $35.99, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), which ended the day 4.03% lower at $19.07, and The J.M. Smucker Company Inc. (NYSE: SJM), which ended the day 5.05% higher at $82.96.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
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