Market Update | Weekly Recap - Week ending 08-Jun-12.
Dow +0.8%, S&P 500 +0.8%, Nasdaq +1.0%, Nasdaq 100 +0.9%, S&P 400 +0.9%, Russell 2000 +1.1%
On Friday stocks fought to reclaim the gains surrendered in the prior session. The broad market not only overcame an early loss, but managed to book a strong gain.
Financials proved to be a source of strength. The sector ascended from an early loss to a 1.2% gain with help from bank stocks, which collectively climbed 1.6%, based on the KBW Bank Index. Tech contributed to the effort by trading up to a 0.9% gain. For the week Financials advanced almost 5%, while Tech advanced little more than 4%.
Telecom scored the strongest gain after some mixed performances earlier in the week. The sector’s 1.5% gain contributed to a weekly advance of nearly 3%, which is less than what the broad market achieved.
Of the major sectors, only Energy failed to find positive territory. For the week it was up almost 4%, but on Friday it finished flat amid lower oil prices. Oil prices were down more than 2% in early pit trade, but managed to improve their position by the close. The energy component ended the day at $84.09 per barrel for a 0.8% loss. Earlier this week oil prices set a new 2012 low beneath $82 per barrel.
Shares of McDonald’s (MCD 87.75, -0.63) also sat out of the stock market’s advance. The stock was pressured because of disappointment surrounding the company’s less-than-impressive 3.3% increase in global sales during May.
Data had hardly any sway, if any at all, with market participants. Releases featured a slightly narrower trade deficit of about $50 billion, along with an in-line 0.6% increase in wholesale inventories.
