2023-10-13 21:02:53
Oil prices, U.S. Treasuries and gold rose on Friday, with crude soaring nearly 6%, driven by safe-haven buying driven by the escalating conflict in the Middle East, as that Israel urges civilians to leave the northern Gaza Strip.
The price of Brent jumped 7.5% in the week following the start of the conflict, posting its biggest weekly rise since February, as investors priced in the risk of an escalation in the main producing region. oil in the world.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index ended lower despite positive results from major U.S. banks on Friday, which marked the unofficial start of the third-quarter earnings reporting period for companies in the S&P 500 index.
Weak U.S. consumer data also weighed on stocks. US consumer sentiment deteriorated in October as households expected inflation to rise over the coming year.
JPMorgan shares rose 1.5% following reporting a 35% profit increase from the previous quarter.
The Israeli military has called on civilians to leave Gaza City ahead of a planned ground invasion in response to devastating attacks by Hamas militants over the weekend.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 8.2 basis points to 4.629%.
Spot gold rose 3.2% on the day to $1,928.99 an ounce, and posted its biggest weekly percentage gain since March.
Brent crude futures rose $4.89, or 5.7 percent, to settle at $90.89 a barrel, and U.S. crude oil closed up $4.78, or 5 .8%, to $87.69 per barrel.
“The goal is to invest in a safe asset that would perform if the ground assault deteriorates over the weekend,” said Marvin Loh, senior global macro strategist at State Street in Boston.
“Everything that is happening in the Middle East is unfortunately becoming more and more depressing and seems to have the potential to get worse,” he added.
On the stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 39.15 points, or 0.12%, to 33,670.29, the S&P 500 lost 21.83 points, or 0.50%, to 4,327.78 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 166.99 points, or 1.23%, to 13,407.23.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.98% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks around the world lost 0.81%.
The dollar also benefited from safe-haven buying due to the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency once morest six of its major counterparts, rose 0.11% to 106.63. The index, which jumped 0.8% on Thursday, its biggest one-day gain since March 15, is expected to end the week up 0.5%.
Earlier on Friday, data showed that consumer prices in China remained stable in September, while factory prices fell more slowly, indicating that deflationary pressures persist, while exports and imports continued to contract at a slower pace. (Additional reporting by Herbert Lash in New York, Ankur Banerjee and Naomi Rovnick; writing by Marguerita Choy and Richard Chang)
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