The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
S&P 500 breaks two-week losing streak
NEW YORK » Stocks rose on Friday, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index cruised to its first winning week in the last three.
It was a relatively quiet week, with fewer shares trading hands than usual, and one where the most anticipated event was a pair of speeches expected to create only a ripple in the market, if that. The annual symposium of central bankers in Wyoming followed through on those expectations.
The S&P 500 rose 4.08 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,443.05, and it barely budged off its course after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave her speech in the morning. The day’s other headline event, a speech by European Central Bank head Mario Draghi, likewise did little to alter the course for stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 30.27 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,813.67, the Nasdaq composite dipped 5.68, or 0.1 percent, to 6,265.64 and the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks rose 3.58, or 0.3 percent, to 1,377.45.
Central bankers have used past gatherings of economists in Jackson Hole to signal big changes in policy, and investors were listening in case this time followed suit.
But Yellen focused on defending regulation of the financial industry and gave no indication of changes to interest-rate policy. While the speech may lower her chances of getting reappointed Fed chair next year, as President Donald Trump has been in favor of reducing regulations, it didn’t change investors’ expectations that the Fed will continue to slowly raise interest rates and prepare to pare back its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
The biggest reaction to the speeches may have been in the currency market, where the dollar fell against rivals following Yellen’s speech. Gains for the euro also accelerated following Draghi’s speech.
The dollar fell to 109.24 Japanese yen from 109.51 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1888 from $1.1806, and the British pound rose to $1.2880 from $1.2802.
In the stock market, design-software company Autodesk jumped to one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It gained $4.36, or 3.9 percent, to $114.97.
Stocks have been winding up and down since the S&P 500 set a record earlier this month. Stronger-than-expected earnings reports from big U.S. companies have helped to support the market, while worries about politics have intermittently chipped away at confidence.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.7 percent this week, following losses of 0.6 percent and 1.4 percent the last two weeks.
President Trump plans to make a push next week in his efforts to overhaul the tax system, with a stop scheduled in Springfield, Missouri. Tax reform was one of the big pro-business policies that investors were banking on early this year after Republicans swept control of Washington, though expectations have dimmed in recent months.