Friday Closing Bell: Markets Booming; DJIA, S&P 500 at Record Highs Again

November 15, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened higher Friday morning even following a dismal report on the Empire State manufacturing index, a lower-than-expected reading on U.S. industrial production, and a drop in U.S. export prices. Sharply higher readings on wholesale inventories promise increased estimates for fourth-quarter GDP growth. Both the DJIA and the S&P 500 indexes closed at new highs today.

European markets closed mostly higher today, while Asian and Latin American markets all closed higher.

Monday’s calendar includes speeches by Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, New York Fed President William Dudley, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, and Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota and the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern):

• 9:00 a.m. – Treasury International Capital (TIC) data
• 10:00 a.m. – Housing market index
• 10:00 a.m. – E-commerce retail sales
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Here are the closing bell levels for Friday:

• S&P500 1798.18 (+7.55; +0.42%)
• DJIA 15961.70 (+85.48; +0.54%)
• NASDAQ 3985.97 (+13.23; +0.33%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.705% (+0.1250)
• Gold $1,287.40 (+1.10; +0.1%) and up 0.2% for the week
• WTI Crude oil $93.84 (+0.08; +0.1%) and down 0.8% for the week for a sixth consecutive weekly decline
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3492 (+0.0032; +0.25%)

Big Earnings Movers: Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is up 8.7% at $54.94. Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) is down 0.3% at $17.51 on a weak forecast. Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is down 1% at $62.81. Youku Tudou Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) is up 11.2% at $29.30. InterCloud Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ICLD) is up 265.9% at $9.33 on solid results and higher hopes.

Stocks on the Move: Zulily Inc. (NASDAQ: ZU) is up 71.4% at $37.70 after its IPO today. Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX) is up 33.8% at $7.87 on a patent ruling. Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) is down 7.4% at $24.04.

In all, 214 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 16 stocks posted new lows.