US markets end marginally higher on Friday

14 Aug 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended marginally higher on Friday despite Dow and the S&P 500 both climbing to fresh record highs early on in the session. Some cautiousness came as data showing a significant drop in U.S. consumer sentiment, and concerns about the impact of surging cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus on growth outweighed buoyant earnings updates from some top notch companies. The University of Michigan's preliminary report said U.S. consumer sentiment slumped to 70.2 in August 2021, from 81.2 in the previous month and well below market expectations of 81.2. It was the lowest reading since December 2011. Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. import prices rose by 0.3 percent in July after surging up by a revised 1.1 percent in June. Street had expected import prices to climb by 0.6 percent in July compared to the 1 percent jump originally reported for the previous month. Besides, the Labor Department said export prices shot up by 1.3 percent in July following a 1.2 percent leap in the previous month. Export prices were expected to increase by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney shares closed higher despite paring substantial portion of early gains. The stock rose on better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a strong growth of its customer base. Salesforce.com moved higher on strong results. Microsoft, Netflix, Comcast and WPP closed higher. DoorDash shares tumbled Friday morning after reporting wider second-quarter loss, but rebounded as the session progressed to close with a gain of about 3.5 percent. Boeing, American Express, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs shed 1 to 1.4 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15.53 points or 0.04 percent to 35,515.38, Nasdaq gained 6.64 points or 0.04 percent to 14,822.90 and S&P 500 was up by 7.17 points or 0.16 percent to 4,468.00.

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