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Oil prices fell Friday, with the U.S. benchmark marking its lowest settlement in seven weeks. A report from Baker Hughes on Friday revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 26–the largest weekly rise in more than a year. The uptick in drilling activity fed concerns about growing U.S. production. March West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.95, or 3.2%, to settle at $59.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Steep losses in the global stock market this week also contributed to oil’s losses.

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From:: Stock Market News

Although the Big 3 market indexes have seesawed back to positive territory, overall market breadth is still negative. The number of advancing stocks are outnumbering decliners 1,669 to 1,291 on the NYSE and 1,507 to 1,346 on the Nasdaq. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 34 points, with 18 of 30 components trading higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite tacked on 0.2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader market tested fresh lows on Friday, a day after the blue-chip index gave up 1,033 puts, marking its second-worst point decline in history and entering into correction territory. An intraday reversal on Friday, which had taken the Dow down by more than 500 points at its lows, at 23,360, could push the blue-chip gauge closer to its 200-day moving average at 22,792.41, according to FactSet data. Moving averages are watched by technical analysts to determine the short-term and long-term momentum in an asset. Breaching such a level for the Dow would help to confirm that a lengthy uptrend for the blue-chip gauge is near an end. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was recently trading up 0.3% at 2,590, but briefly breached its 200-day moving average at 2,538.95, falling to a session low at 2,532.73. The Nasdaq Composite index , meanwhile, was up 0.4% at 6,806, just above its long-term average at 6,556.41.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Gold prices settled lower on Friday, pressured by a sharp weekly climb in the U.S. dollar, as traders eyed volatility in the global stock market. April gold fell $3.30, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,315.70 an ounce. The weekly decline of roughly 1.6% was the largest since the week ended Dec. 8, according to FactSet data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Urban Outfitters Inc. shares were up 3.2% in Friday trading after the company reported sales and same-store sales growth for the fourth quarter. Urban Outfitters’ portfolio includes the namesake chain of stores, Free People and Anthropologie. Fourth-quarter sales rose 5.7% year-over-year to $1.09 billion from $1.03 billion. Same-store sales for the retail segment rose 4%, driven by double-digit growth in the direct-to-consumer channel, the company said. In the retail segment, Free People’s sales increased 8%, Anthropologie grew 5% and Urban Outfitters grew 2%. Urban Outfitters is scheduled to release fourth-quarter earnings on March 6. Urban Outfitters shares are up 24.2% for the last year while the S&P 500 index is up 10.1% for the period.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil jumped by 26 to 791 this week. That marked a third straight week of increases and the largest weekly rise in more than a year. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also climbed by 29 to 975, according to Baker Hughes. March West Texas Intermediate crude fell $2.25, or 3.7%, from Thursday, to $58.90 a barrel, down from $59.17 shortly before the rig data.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

The SPDR Consumer Discretionary Select Sector ETF was tumbling 2.6% in midday trade Friday, underperforming both the SPDR Consumer Staples Select Sector ETF’s 1.3% decline by a wide margin, marking a change from the stock market’s selloff to start the week. Shares of consumer staples companies, which sell products consumers need rather than want, are viewed as defensive, because they tend to outperform discretionary stocks when investors become concerned about an economic slowdown. On Monday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1,175 points on worries that a strong economy could push up interest rates the discretionary ETF (XLY) lost 3.4% and the staples ETF (XLP) fell 3.6%. On Thursday, when the Dow tumbled 1,033 points, the XLY lost 1.8% and the XLP slipped 0.7%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Canaccord Genuity Analyst Michael Graham on Friday increased his price target for shares of Zillow Group , calling the company’s outlook and new strategies “exciting.” As the company increases its dominance across the real estate market, Graham wrote, its plans “strongly reinforce our view that Zillow is still in the early stages of growing into a much larger company.” He reiterated his buy rating, adding, “we would continue to look for entry points to increase exposure over the long term.” Graham’s $54 price target implies an 18% jump in share price from Friday levels, and is stronger than the FactSet median of $50.44. Zillow’s fourth-quarter EPS was in line with analyst expectations, but revenue was slightly higher. The stock is up 34.4% over the past 12 months, beating the 11.2% gain for the S&P 500 .

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader market appeared to be testing fresh lows on Friday, a day after the blue-chip index gave up 1,033 puts, marking its second-worst point decline in history and entering into correction territory. An intraday reversal on Friday, which had taken the Dow down by more than 300 points at its lows, or 1.4%, at 23,506, could push the blue-chip gauge closer to its 200-day moving average at 22,792.41, according to FactSet data. At present levels, the Dow would need to fall another 740 points, at least. Moving averages are watched by technical analysts to determine the short-term and long-term momentum in an asset. Breaching such a level for the Dow would help to confirm that a lengthy uptrend for the blue-chip gauge is near an end. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was off 1% at 2,555, just about 20 points short of its 200-day MA at 2,538.95. The Nasdaq Composite index was down 1.1% at 6,701, just above its long-term average at 6,556.41.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News