Category: Stock Market News

President-elect Donald Trump is risking a major diplomatic dispute with China after speaking on the phone Friday with the president of Taiwan, the Financial Times reported. The telephone call between Trump and Tsai Ying-wen is believed to be the first between a U.S. president and a Taiwanese leader since the two cut diplomatic ties in 1979. China regards the island as a renegade province. The FT said the Trump transition team did not respond to its requests for comment.

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Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Mark Fields said the car maker still plans to move production of Focus sedans to Mexico despite criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, according to an interview with The Wall Street Journal Friday. Such move will mean no loss of U.S. jobs and is expected for 2018, Fields told the newspaper. The Michigan plant would produce more profitable, larger vehicles. Fields said in September the move was aimed at “reinventing” Ford’s small-vehicle business and at cutting costs. Trump said earlier Friday companies moving jobs abroad would face “consequences.” Shares of Ford were up 0.1% in the extended session after ending the regular trading day down 1.5%.

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U.S. stocks finished mostly higher on Friday but weekly losses for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index suggested that an aggressive postelection rally might be running out of steam. Both indexes snapped three-week winning streaks. The S&P 500 index gained 0.9 point, or less than 0.1%, to 2,192.00, as investors favored safety plays like real estate, up 1.2%, utilities, up 0.9% and consumer staples, up 0.7%. The broad-market index ended the week 1% lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 21.30 points, or 0.1%, to 19,170.63, as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. led the benchmark lower, though it ended the week up 0.1%, its fourth consecutive weekly rise. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 4.55 points, or 0.1%, to 5,255.65, but finished down 2.7% on the week. Earlier, the Labor Department reported sanguine jobs growth numbers for November, which helped support stocks. U.S. stocks’ momentum faded this week as a blistering rally that sent benchmarks to a series of record highs cooled. Treasury yields moved lower on Friday, with the 10-year [s:TMUBMUSD10Y] down 5.6 basis points at 2.395%, but finished higher for a fourth straight week.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks finished mostly higher on Friday but weekly losses for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index suggested that an aggressive postelection rally might be running out of steam. Both indexes snapped three-week winning streaks. The S&P 500 index gained 0.9 point, or less than 0.1%, to 2,192.00, as investors favored safety plays like real estate, up 1.2%, utilities, up 0.9% and consumer staples, up 0.7%. The broad-market index ended the week 1% lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 21.30 points, or 0.1%, to 19,170.63, as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. led the benchmark lower, though it ended the week up 0.1%, its fourth consecutive weekly rise. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 4.55 points, or 0.1%, to 5,255.65, but finished down 2.7% on the week. Earlier, the Labor Department reported sanguine jobs growth numbers for November, which helped support stocks. U.S. stocks’ momentum faded this week as a blistering rally that sent benchmarks to a series of record highs cooled. Treasury yields moved lower on Friday, with the 10-year [s:TMUBMUSD10Y] down 5.6 basis points at 2.395%, but finished higher for a fourth straight week.

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DoubleLine Capital on Friday said its funds had collectively posted a net outflow of $990.5 million in November, the first month that share redemptions exceeded subscriptions since January 2014, during the Federal Reserve’s so-called “taper tantrum.” Tracking the trend of the overall market, the fund’s bond portfolios saw particular outflows, with the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund – the firm’s largest fund by assets, with $59.2 billion – seeing $1.4 billion in outflows over the month, the third largest monthly outflows in the fund’s history. Bonds saw heavy selling in November, especially after the election of Donald Trump, with investors expecting the President-elect’s proposals to lead to higher interest rates and inflation. November was the worst month for Treasurys since December 2009, with yields on the 10-year rising more than 50 basis points in the month. The $1.7 billion DoubleLine Shiller Enhanced CAPE fund, DoubleLine’s biggest equities fund, saw $171.7 million in inflows over November. Stocks rallied following the election, with investors betting that Trump’s policies would lead to accelerated levels of growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 4.5% since the election while the S&P 500 is up 2.4%.

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Gold futures settled higher Friday, with a retreat in the U.S. dollar and weakness in Treasury yields boosting the metal’s investment appeal. February gold rose $8.40, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,177.80 an ounce for the session. For the week, prices lost less than 0.1% from the $1,178.40 settlement of the most-active December contract a week ago.

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Oil futures climbed toward the session’s highest levels Friday, buoyed by news that the U.S. Senate has approved a bill that will extend sanctions against Iran’s missile development and weapons program that was not part of last year’s nuclear pact. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill. “It is clear that this will not help positive developments in U.S. and Iranian relations,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData. And “the potential for deterioration in U.S.-Iran relations puts the future of Iranian crude exports in question once again,” he said. January West Texas Intermediate crude rose 54 cents, or 1.1%, to $51.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, near the day’s high of $51.66.

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Data from Baker Hughes Friday revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 3 to 477 rigs this week. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also rose 4 to 597, according to Baker Hughes. January crude was up 25 cents, or 0.5%, to trade at $51.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at around $51.36 before the rig data.

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Ford Motor Co.’s stock slumped 1.5% in midday trade Friday, reversing an earlier 1.2% intraday gain, after the auto maker issued two safety recalls involving more than 650,000 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ model cars. “In the affected vehicles, increased temperatures generated during deployment of the seat belt anchor pretensioner could cause pretensioner cables to separate, which may inadequately restrain an occupant in a crash, increasing risk of injury,” Ford said in a statement. The recall is for Fusions built from 2013 to 2016 and for Lincolns built from 2013 to 2015. Ford said 680,872 vehicles are affected, including 602,739 in the U.S., 35,614 in Canada and 8,665 in Mexico. Ford shares had closed Thursday at a two-month high after Ford’s November sales report. They have now shed 13% year to date, while General Motors Co.’s stock has gained 4.5% and the S&P 500 has climbed 7.2%.

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Analysts at Cowen & Co. have cut their price target on Tesla Motors Inc. stock to $155, from $160, on concerns about the integration with SolarCity Corp. , which Tesla recently bought, and ongoing worries around Tesla’s production targets, the launch of its mass-market Model 3, and competition in the electric-vehicle arena from other car makers. Cowen’s new price target represents about 14% downside for Tesla’s current share prices. The shares are off 24% so far this year, versus gains of more than 7% for the S&P 500 index in the same period.

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