Friday Closing Bell: Markets Take Lead from Tech Stocks

October 18, 2013: U.S. markets opened mixed Friday morning with little in the way of news or data to guide the indexes. The only real data out today came from China, where GDP growth in the third-quarter was reported up 7.8%. Solid earnings beats by several big names set the tone early and all three major indexes finished the day higher.

European closed higher today while Asian and Latin American markets were mixed.

Monday’s calendar includes a speech by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern).

• 8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
• 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report (delayed from last Thursday)
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Here are the closing bell levels for Friday:

• S&P500 1744.50 (+11.35; +0.65%)
• DJIA 15399.65 (+28.00; +0.18%)
• NASDAQ 3914.28 (+51.13; +1.32%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.594% (flat)
• Gold $1,314.60 (-8.40; -0.6%) closed the week up nearly 4%
• WTI Crude oil $100.81 (+0.14; +0.1%) closed the week down 1.2%
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3688 (+0.0012; +0.09%)

Big Earnings Movers: Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is up 13.8% at $1,011.65 after hammering estimates. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is down 13.7% at $3.53. General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is up 3.6% at $25.57 after beating estimates. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is up 2.6% at $29.68. Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) is up 2.8% at $93.95 on solid earnings. All these stocks, except AMD, posted new 52-week highs today; Google posted its all-time high.

Stocks on the Move: Voxeljet AG (NYSE: VJET) is up 121.8% at $28.83 after a blazing hot IPO. Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) is down 40.7% at $2.67 on a failed drug trial. ParkerVision Inc. (NASDAQ: PRKR) is up 17.9% at $6.40 after gaining more than 60% yesterday on a Florida jury’s ruling in the company’s favor in a patent suit against Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM). J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down 4.8% at $7.00, after posting a 33-year low of $6.97 a share earlier today.

In all, 449 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while only 19 stocks posted new lows.