U.S. Markets Finish Higher But Down For The Week

U.S. markets finished on a positive note, but were down sharply for the week. On a positive note, the DJIA snapped a 4 day losing streak.

The NASDAQ has now had six straight weeks of losses. This is its longest losing streak in over 3 years and he DJIA has had 4 straight losing weeks. This is its longest losing streak since last August.

On Friday, the Dow Jones (DJIA) rose 45.93 points to close at 12588.31. Both Alcoa (AA) up 1.61% and Home Depot (HD) up 1.42% led gainers. The S&P 500 was up 5.55 points and the NASDAQ gained 16.19 points. For the week, the DJIA was down by 1.77 percent, the NASDQ was down by 1.78% and the S&P500 lost 1.45 percent.

Facebook (FB) continue to soar as it rose 6.27 percent to 23.5607. This comes after the company announced it will expand its ahead of the holiday season.

Facebook stock is now up 20 percent since Monday. Apple (AAPL) was up 2.058 points to 527.678 after the company traded near a 9 month low. Shares are now down 25 percent since its September high.

Dell (DELL) lost 7.33 percent after the company missed earnings expectations as economic conditions could cause sales to slump in Q4 and 10 brokerages slashed their price target for the tech giant.

On the economic front, industrial production, thanks to Hurricane Sandy, unexpectedly slumped last month. Industrial contraction contracted 0.4 percent as economists expected a gain of 0.2 percent. Manufacturing also fell 0.9 percent as automotive output fell for the second straight quarter.

Looking at Europe, major indices were lower on U.S. budget worries. Losses were led by the banking sector.

The British FTSE was down 72.16 points, the German DAX was down by 92.89 points and the French CAC lost almost 41 points. Germany’s Commerzbank lost almost 5 percent and France’s Natixis was down 4.72 percent as investors continue to worry about Greece and the U.S. Right now there is a disagreement within the EU and IMF holding up the next round of the bailout. They are withholding €31 billion.

On the commodities front, oil has now risen to $108 per barrel as investors are concerned about the supply of oil thanks to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For next week, on the Economic calendar:
Monday: U.S. Existing Home Sales
Tuesday: U.S. Housing Starts
Wednesday: Weekly Mortgage Applications

DISCLOSURE And DISCLAIMER: The Above Is For Informational Purposes Only And Not To Be Construed As Specific Trading Advice. Responsibility For Trade Decisions Is Solely With The Reader.