US Market - Friday, 26 September 2014

Source: ADVFN Newsdesk <newsdesk@advfn.co.uk>

  

This text was copied from the source above mentioned. 

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday, with sentiment suggesting an upturn after yesterday's sharp retreat. Final estimates released by the Commerce Department showed an upward revision to second quarter growth in line with expectations. Earnings news has been mixed, although Nike reported strong results, thanks to the soccer World Cup. After a shaky start and subsequent weakness, European stocks are mostly higher. The domestic markets may also focus on geopolitical developments and a consumer sentiment reading due shortly after the markets open.

U.S. stocks resumed their decline on Thursday amid overbought fears, geopolitical tensions and economic fears. The major averages opened lower and fell steadily until mid-day before moving sideways for the rest of the session.

The Dow Industrials ended down 264.26 points or 1.54 percent at 16,946, the S&P 500 Index closed 32.31 points or 1.62 percent lower at 1,966, and the Nasdaq Composite ended at 4,467, down 88.47 points or 1.94 percent. The major averages all ended the session at their worst closing levels in over a month.

All thirty of the Dow components closed lower, with UnitedHealth (UNH), Microsoft (MSFT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), American Express (AXP), Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM) leading the declines.

Airline, biotechnology, basic material, energy, financial, housing, retail, computer hardware and semiconductor stocks all moved notably to the downside.

On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims rose to a less than expected 293,000 in the week ended September 20th from 281,000 in the previous week. Meanwhile, the four-week average declined to 299,000 from 300,000. Continuing claims calculated with a week's lag rose by 7,000 to 2.44 million in the week ended September 13th.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed that durable goods orders tumbled by 18.2 percent month-over-month in August, reversing most of the 22.5 percent jump in the previous month. Excluding transportation, orders were up 0.7 percent. Non-defense capital goods orders, excluding aircrafts and parts, used as a proxy for capital spending rose 0.6 percent, and shipments of this category of goods plugged into GDP calculations were up 0.1 percent.

The results of Markit's preliminary survey of the non-manufacturing sector showed that the non-manufacturing index based on the survey remained unchanged at 58.5 in September, belying expectations for an increase to 61.