New York, Sep 15 (IANS) US stocks wrapped up the week on an upbeat note with mild gains, as the market was underpinned by a batch of multiple data, and Wall Street digested the European Central Bank's (ECB) fresh monetary decision, as well as the latest development on US-China trade scenario, fueling hopes for global economic growth.
In the week ending September 13, the Dow rose 1.58 per cent. The S&P 500 gained 0.96 per cent, and the Nasdaq rallied 0.91 per cent.
This week marked generally positive trading sessions for the market with a mixed start and a tepid ending, with the three major indexes notching steady gains on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Friday, the three major indexes ended with minor gains and losses, as investors digested the latest retail sales that came above market expectations and rebounding consumer sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 37.07 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 27,219.52. The S&P 500 decreased 2.18 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 3,007.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 17.75 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 8,176.71.
Wednesday saw the biggest daily gains of the week, as the market was buoyed by rising Producer Price Index (PPI) and sales of merchant wholesalers, as well as strong shares of Apple.
The tech giant notched 3.18 per cent stock gains as of market close, the second best performers in the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow.
Apple has remained in the limelight and extended straight share gains since Tuesday afternoon, after the tech giant unveiled its latest flagship products, including a new generation of iPhone, iPad and Apple watch products.
The three major indexes continued to go up on Thursday, as investors were encouraged by the ECB's latest decision to cut rate and buy bond, as well as cheering development on US-China trade situations.
The ECB decided to cut its main deposit rate by 10 basis points and unveiled a massive bond-buying program on Thursday, so as to shore up the sagging euro zone economy.
Under the quantitative easing program, the bank will purchase 20 billion euros ($21.9 billion) worth of net asset per month.
China on Wednesday unveiled the first set of US goods to be excluded from the first round of additional tariffs on US products, which will help effectively deal with economic and trade frictions and ease enterprises' burdens, experts said.
The exemption, which covers two lists with 16 categories of goods, will be valid from September 17, 2019, to September 16, 2020.
The first list includes 12 categories and allows affected import enterprises to apply for refunds of levied duties within six months starting Wednesday.
The second list includes four categories that will enjoy the exemption but are not eligible for tariff refunds.
Meanwhile, Wall Street has digested an array of primarily positive data.
On the economic front, consumer sentiment rebounded mildly in September to a reading of 92 from the sharp August decline, the University of Michigan said in its survey on Friday.
However, the reading still marked the third lowest level since US President Donald Trump's election.
"Concerns about the impact of tariffs on the domestic economy also rose in early September, with 38 per cent of all consumers making spontaneous references to the negative impact of tariffs, the highest percentage since March 2018," said Richard Curtin, a Surveys of Consumers chief economist, in the survey.
US retail and food services sales for August rose 0.4 per cent month over month to hit $526.1 billion and was 4.1 per cent above the August 2018 level, the US Census Bureau said Friday.
The gains were mainly boosted by higher spending on motor vehicles and parts, as well as building materials.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 per cent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.3 per cent in July, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said Thursday.
Increases in the indexes for shelter and medical care were the major factors in the seasonally adjusted all items monthly increase, outweighing a decline in the energy index.
In the week ending September 7, the initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 204,000 from the previous week, the Labour Department said on Thursday.
The reading hit a nearly 5-month low. The 4-week moving average also declined to 212,500, down 4,250 from the previous week's level.
Total inventories of merchant wholesalers were $679.1 billion at the end of July, up 0.2 per cent from the revised June level and up 7.1 per cent from the revised July 2018 level, the Census Bureau said on Wednesday.
Sales of merchant wholesalers in July registered $499.6 billion, up 0.3 per cent from the revised June level and virtually unchanged from the July 2018 level.
The PPI for final demand rose 0.1 per cent in August, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics reported on Wednesday. Yet the gain came lower than the 0.2 per cent increase in July.
The advance in final demand prices is attributable to a 0.3 per cent increase in the index for final demand services in August. In contrast, prices for final demand goods fell 0.5 per cent.
The number of job openings was little changed at 7.2 million on the last business day of July, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics reported on Tuesday. The job openings rate was 4.5 per cent.
Over the month, hires edged up to 6 million and separations increased to 5.8 million. Within separations, the quits rate, and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz