A late surge lifted U.S. stocks to a positive close Friday, with gains for shares of consumer and technology companies pacing gains following better-than-expected earnings for several of those sectors' constituents. Shares also were helped by new economic data showing a big jump in housing starts and higher expectations for economic growth over the rest of the year.
Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) rallied Friday, finishing with a nearly 15% advance for a record high close and pacing gains for all companies in the S&P 500 after last night posting Q1 per-share earnings and revenue that topped analyst projections and also saying it was seeking a financial partner for its credit-card receivables.
JC Penney (NYSE:JCP) also surprised last night, recording a smaller net loss than analysts were expecting and notching its first quarter of positive sales since 2011. It finished Friday with a nearly 16% price gain. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) lent support to the technology sector, reporting quarterly results and projecting future earnings and revenue that matched analyst projections.
In economic data, housing starts improved in April, the Commerce Department said, rising 13.2% to an annualized 1.07 million pace and exceeding market expectations by around 80,000 units. More building permits were pulled last month than any time since June 2008, jumping 8.0% to a 1.08 million annual pace, although permits for single-family homes rose just 0.3%.
Also supporting small gains for stocks throughout much of Friday's session was a survey of 42 economists by the Philadelphia Fed finding higher forecasts for the current quarter and the rest of the year. Analysts now see the U.S. economy rising at a 3.3% annualized pace during the April-to-June quarter, up from 3.0% in their previous estimates.
They also raised their forecasts for Q3 growth to 2.9% from 2.8% and up to 3.2% from 2.8% during the final three months of the year. But full-year predictions were pared to expectations for 2.4% growth, down from 2.8% in the Philly Fed's prior survey, due to unusually slow Q1 growth of just 0.1%.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment disappointed, showing a surprise 2.3-point retreat to a preliminary 81.8 reading for May. Consensus opinion was looking for a 0.2 rise this month to a 84.5 reading.
Commodities were mostly lower. Crude Oil for June delivery settled 52 cents higher at $102.02 per barrel while June Natural Gas fell 6 cents to $4.41 per 1 million BTU. June Gold was off 40 cents to settle at $1,293.30 per ounce while July Silver declined 16 cents to $19.33 per ounce. July Copper added a penny to finish at $3.15 per pound.
Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End
- Dow Jones Industrial Index up 44.50 (+0.27%) to 16,491.31
- S&P 500 up 7.01 (+0.37%) to 1,877.86
- Nasdaq Composite Index up 21.30 (+0.52%) to 4,090.59
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
- Hang Seng Index down 0.08% to 22,712.91
- Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.71% at 11.27
- FTSE 100 up 0.22% at 6,855.81
UPSIDE MOVERS
- (+) ESTE, Acquires all of privately held Oak Valley Resource's producing assets and undeveloped acreage, plus about $138 mln in cash, for 10.9 mln ESTE shares, worth $237 mln based on Thursday's $21.74 closing share price.
- (+) JWN, Shares climb to all-time high, also pacing gains for the S&P 500, after department-store retailer posts Q1 EPS of $0.72 beats by $0.04 per share. Revenue rose 6.8% to $2.84 bln, exceeding expectations by around $80 mln.
- (+) KGJI, Chinese jeweler earns $16.1 mln, or $0.24 per share, during Q1, up from $3.0 mln during the year-ago period. Net sales rose 38.9% year over year to $307.5 mln. Analyst estimates were not available for comparison.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
- (-) EVRY, Reports Q1 net loss of $0.73 per share, excluding non-recurring items, trailing the Capital IQ consensus by $0.59. Revenue falls 4.6% year over year to $93.2 mln, lagging estimates by around $7.43 mln.
- (-) SMT, Sees FY15 financial performance trailing FY14. Fiscal Q4 revenue grows 18% to $108.7 mln but lags analyst estimates by around $9.1 mln. Net loss of $0.05 per share is $0.01 smaller than the Capital IQ consensus.
- (-) KMDA, Said its inhaled Alpha-1 Antitrypsin drug candidate did not achieve primary end point of reducing time to first exacerbation event at one year during Phase II/III testing in patients with inherited emphysema.
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