Investing.com - Top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this week:
1. Trade Takes Market on a Rollercoaster Ride
There was a burst of optimism about trade in the market during the week, but that didn’t last until the closing bell Friday.
The U.S. announced a bilateral deal with Mexico Monday. But tension built throughout the week as the U.S. announced there was a Friday deadline to bring Canada into a newly-revamped NAFTA.
The U.S. and Canada missed that deadline, but announced that talks would resume next Wednesday, leaving the market facing more wait-and-see trading days.
There was also drama during Friday’s discussions after the Toronto Star reported that Trump told Bloomberg off the record he had no plans to give any concessions at all to Canada.
The president appeared to later confirm that stance in a tweet, saying Canada now knows where he stands.
Trade worries spread beyond North America, though. Trump told Bloomberg he was prepared to withdraw from the WTO if necessary. And he plans to move ahead with tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports as soon as a public-comment period concludes next week, Bloomberg reported.
China’s foreign ministry said Friday that the U.S. putting pressure on Beijing would not work.
2. Retailers See Wild Earnings Swings, Sector Rises
Retail earnings dominated the calendar this week, leading to strong stock movements in the low-volume environment.
The SPDR S&P Retail (NYSE:XRT) index ended up slightly for the week.
Among big movers, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) stock plummeted second-quarter revenue and same-store sales missed estimates.
Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) stock tumbled despite better-than-expected second quarter revenue and earnings as online sales slowed and the company warned that it is “expecting a non-GAAP operating income rate decline in the third quarter.”
Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) stock tanked after second-quarter revenue missed expectations and it forecast a 3% to 4% decline in consolidated same-store sales for 2018. But it recovered a lot of lost ground.
And Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) spiked on second-quarter results and strong outlook, but then tumbled in later sessions.
3. Tesla Is Staying Public, Musk Is Still Tweeting
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares started the week with a quick drop and finished it lower as it scrapped plans to go private.
CEO Elon Musk wrote in a blog late on Friday, Aug. 24 that he would not move forward with a plan to take the company private, noting that after speaking with retail and institutional shareholders that “the sentiment, in a nutshell, was ‘please don't do this.’”
Musk surprised the market out of the blue, tweeting he was thinking of taking the company private at $420 per share and had funding secured. The SEC was interested in whether the tweet was designed in away to punish short sellers, according to reports.
But Musk didn’t stay clear of controversy for long. On Sunday, he tweeted about a British diver who was involved in the Thai cave rescue and whom Musk had previously called “a pedo”. Musk replied to a tweet, saying it was curious the man, Vernon Unsworth, didn’t sue him for the remark. Unsworth’s lawyer said in a letter the tweets were “false and defamatory.”
4. Consumer Stays Strong, Housing Still Wobbles
Data out this week illustrated two contrasting segments of the U.S. economy, one stronger and one weaker. Economic indicators on the consumer side remained very strong.
The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence increased to 133.4 this month, compared to a reading of 126.7 forecast by economists. That was its highest level since October 2000.
The University of Michigan's August consumer confidence index was revised up to 96.2 from its preliminary measure of 95.3.
And consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.4% last month, matching June’s reading and analyst forecasts.
But weak numbers in housing continued to arrive.
The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index, which measures signed contracts for homes where transactions have not yet closed, fell 0.7% to a reading of 106.2 after rising by a revised 1.0% in the previous month. Economists had forecast pending home sales rising 0.3% last month.
5. Oil Finishes Higher in August
Oil closed out the month higher as traders balanced expectations of crude supply losses with the potential of trade wars denting global demand.
China, the world's largest commodity importer, has seen economic growth dwindle since the trade war with the U.S. kicked off, and a further escalation could dent growth, forcing Beijing to rein in crude imports.
Oil prices ended the month nearly 2% higher on bets on renewed global supply shortage as U.S. sanctions on Iran's crude exports are expected to reduce crude from market, underpinning higher crude prices.
Both WTI and Brent crude are expected gain on a potential slump in Iranian exports, although gains in WTI prices will be limited as the refinery maintenance season is set to get underway.
Oil prices were helped earlier in the week by an EIA report showing crude oil stockpiles fell much more than expected.