Asia Morning US Stocks Shrug Downbeat Data

Wall Street sign with a building in background
On Friday U.S. stocks managed to close slightly higher despite data showing sharp economic contraction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Averages gained 60 points (+0.3%) to 23685, the S&P 500 added 11 points (+0.4%) to 2863, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 58 points (+0.6%) to 9152. 


Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView

Media (+1.63%), Retailing (+1.33%) and Software & Services (+1.33%) sectors gained the most.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL +6.5%), Gap (GPS +6.0%), Macy’s (M +6.0%) and NVIDIA (NVDA +5.7%) were top gainers.

JC Penney (JCP +21.2%) filed for bankruptcy on Friday.

On the technical side, about 26.6% (24.6% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average, and 37.8% (28.7% in the prior session) were above their 20-day moving average.

U.S. official data showed that Retail Sales dropped 16.4% on month in April (-12% expected), the largest loss on record. Industrial Production fell 11.2% on month in April (-12.0% expected), also a record loss. 

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index (preliminary reading) increased to 73.7 in May (68.0 expected), and the Empire Manufacturing Index rose to -48.5 (-60.0 expected).

European stocks stabilized, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rebounding 0.5%. Germany's DAX rose 1.2%, France's CAC edged down 0.1%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 1.0%.

U.S. Treasury prices eased, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield added 2.3 basis points to 0.640%.

Spot gold price was up for a fourth session as it climbed 10 dollars higher (+0.5%) to $1741 an ounce, the highest level since November 2012.

Oil prices kept rallying, as U.S. WTI crude oil futures (June) jumped 6.8% to $29.43 a barrel.

On the forex front, despite a record monthly decline in U.S. retail sales, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index still kept the key 100.00 level as it edged down 0.1% on day to 100.40.
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