The U.S stocks are on a new high as it looks to uplift itself after the S&P 500 ended with a new record, for the second straight day. The index spiked to 2121.10 (gained about 1.1 %) mainly owing to Netflix.
Netflix(NASDAQ:NFLX) shares jumped to $ 613.25 a piece (that is a walloping 4.5 % increase) after news broke out (courtesy of Bloomberg) that the company was in talks to broker a deal to which would give it the permission to stream its original contents in China. Netflix have been going through a purple patch as its stocks have increased by 80 % this year.
The S&P 500 index had 38 new 52-week highs and only 3 new lows during this Friday’s trading session.
The Dow Jones rose around 20.30 points (0.11 %) to 18272.56 while the NASDAQ Composite slumped to 5048.29 as it lost 2.50 points (0.05 %).
However the stock market in general had gone through a relatively listless day, as the weak economic numbers were finally taking its toll. Poor industrial output and general lack of consumer confidence caused investors to remain pessimistic about the growth prospects of the world’s largest economy.
Bank of America lost 1.02 % which was the primary driver behind pulling down the S&P 500. Significant decline in both the mining and utilities industries caused the industrial output to lose around 0.3 %, even though experts forecasted a rise of 0.1 %. Adding to the existing misery of the U.S economy, the predictions for the next quarter and for the remainder of the year was toned down significantly. Additionally the U.S labor market was not expected to make any significant headway either in the rest of this year.
Experts are worried that this quarter may be forced to ‘feel’ the spillover effects of last quarter’s poor performance.
U.S oil prices fell again, bringing it down to just a shade under $ 60 a barrel.
Another key factor which caused the U.S stock market to remain relatively stagnant was the increased selling pressure, due to the record high achieved by S&P 500. TD Ameritrade’s chief strategist commented that people usually flock towards short-term profits in these situations and hence induce a massive selling pressure on the market.
Nearly 5.7 billion shares were traded on the U.S stock market, which is well below the 6.2 billion average, according to BATS Global Markets.
