Friday Closing Bell: Markets Rise Despite Shutdown

October 4, 2013: U.S. markets opened slightly higher Friday following a lack of a report this morning on non-farm payrolls and unemployment. Markets rose nicely in mid-morning and have held on to decent gains for the day. The lack of any substantive movement toward a solution to the federal funding impasse does not appear to dampened buyers today.
Asian markets closed lower today, while European and Latin American markets closed mostly higher.

Monday’s calendar includes the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern):

• 11:30 p.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions
• 3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit

Here are the closing bell levels for Friday:

• S&P500 1,690.51 (+11.85; +0.71%)
• DJIA 15,072.58 (+76.10; +0.51%)
• NASDAQ 3,807.75 (+33.41; +0.89%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.650% (-0.34375)
• Gold $1,309.90 (-7.70; -0.6%), and closed the week down 2.2%
• WTI Crude oil $103.84 (+0.53; +0.5%), up 0.9% for the week
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3553 (-0.0066; -0.48%)

There were no earnings of note on Friday. Quarterly earnings results begin in earnest next week, with Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and the big banks all scheduled to report.

Stocks on the Move: Potbelly Corp. (NASDAQ: PBPB) is up 119.1% at $30.68 after a blistering IPO at $14 a share. OCI Partners LP (NYSE: OCIP) is up 5.6% at $19.01 after an IPO at $18.00 a share. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corp. (NYSE: CHMI) is down 7.6% at $18.48 following its IPO on Friday morning. Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is up 37.1% at $2.70 following approval of updated specifications for a drug to prevent respiratory distress in premature infants. Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST) is down 9.7% at $5.74 following the sale of $1 billion worth of assets in the Texas panhandle.

In all, 137 stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 29 stocks posted new lows.