Wall Street’s major indices failed to recover, Friday, despite the support of banks, resource companies, and consumer products.
Wall Street swung between ups and downs at the close, Friday, following a volatile session that saw Tesla shares fall and other growth companies’ shares also fell.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their seventh straight week of losses, their longest losing streak since 2001.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its eighth consecutive weekly decline and the longest since 1932 during the Great Depression.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.01 percent to end the session at 3,901.36 points. The Nasdaq index fell 0.30 percent to 11354.62 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03 percent to 3,1261.90 points.
On Thursday, Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower, Standard & Poor’s fell following a volatile session, and Cisco Systems shares tumbled following the network equipment maker cut its revenue growth forecast in 2022 due to its withdrawal from Russia and its suffering from a shortage of components related to procedures Lockdown in China related to the Corona virus. Standard & Poor’s was also affected by falling shares of Apple and chip maker Broadcom.
European stocks
For its part, European shares rose on Friday, supported by hopes of an economic recovery in China boosted by the central bank’s announcement of more stimulus, but the region’s stock index is heading towards ending the week lower due to recession fears.
The mining and energy sectors led the gains and pushed the STOXX 600 index of European shares to rise 0.8 percent. This reduced weekly losses to less than one percent, in what would become the fifth weekly decline in six.
Data revealed that British retail sales unexpectedly jumped in April, but expectations for consumer spending remained strongly low. Luxury goods stocks fell, with Richemont plummeting 10.5 percent.
But the company said strong US demand for its jewelry and watches boosted the company’s net profit and sales in the 12 months to March.
Japanese stocks
Japanese shares closed higher on Friday, recovering from a nearly two percent drop in the previous session, as investors snapped up falling stocks on hopes of corporate earnings growth.
The Nikkei index ended trading up 1.27 percent at 26,739.03 and recorded a weekly gain of 1.18 percent. The broader Topix index rose 0.93 percent to 1877.37, and it rose 0.71 percent during the week.
“Japanese stocks were strong (Friday) even as Dow Jones and Standard & Poor’s continued their losses,” said Shigetoshi Kamada, director of research at Tachibana Securities.
Shares of Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo chain of stores, rose 2.53 percent, and provided the largest boost to the index. SoftBank Group rose 3.5 percent, while Tokyo Electron, a producer of chip-making equipment, added 1.27 percent.
Seiko Epson shares rose 8.78 percent and was the biggest gainer on the Nikkei index, following the watchmaker announced the repurchase of up to 9.35 percent of its shares.
Tokyo Gas fell 2.75 percent and was the biggest loser on the index. (Archyde.com)
