A greater-than-anticipated drop in July non-farm payrolls sent investors away from stocks Friday, but the losses were modest and stocks managed to close the week firmly in the green. All three major indexes ended at least 1.5% higher on the week.
On the week, the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 gained 1.8% each. This was Dow’s third-straight weekly gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.5% for the week. Financials led the losers while healthcare, energy and consumer discretionary shares led on the upside. Year-to-date, all three indexes are in the green: the DJIA is up 2.2% year-to-date; the NASDAQ is up 0.9%; the S&P500 is now up 0.6%.
After the close Friday, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) announced the resignation of its Chief Executive Mark Hurd following an investigation of sexual harassment.
Meanwhile, the flight to safety sent the Treasuries higher and the corresponding yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note dropped to 2.86% from 2.91% late Thursday. The yield on the two-year notes fell below 0.50% for the first time ever, before retracing some losses to trade at 0.52%. Gold prices rallied to their highest levels in a month on Friday, up 2% on the week to $1,205.30, and up 10% year-to-date.
Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) lowered its US economic growth assumptions for 2011 to 1.9% from its previous projection of 2.5%. Today global markets took in stride the disappointing jobs data, as expectations grew the Fed would inject more dollars into the faltering US economy. According to Goldman Sach’s (NYSE:GS) chief economist, “It’s a close call, but we expect an announcement that the proceeds from maturing or prepaid [mortgage-backed securities] will be reinvested in the bond market, most likely Treasuries.” The developments weakened the greenback, but in Japan traders appeared concerned about the impact of a weak US dollar on Japan’s exports. Those worries sent the Nikkei off 0.7% even as other Asian bourses closed with modest gains.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) is scheduled to report its comparable sales numbers, with earnings from DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH), Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LCAPA), Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN), Macy’s (NYSE:M), Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Sara Lee (NYSE:SLE), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), JC Penney (NYSE:JCP) also on the calendar.
