U.S. Stocks Mixed, but Finish Quarter with Solid Gains

The major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed on Friday, leading to a lower close for the week, but still managing to post solid gains for the quarter. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average and the benchmark S&P 500 Index posted their best first-half performances since 2009. The NASDAQ posted its best start for the year since 2009.

In the cash market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 2423.41, up 62.60 or +0.29%. The S&P 500 Index ended the session at 2423.41, up 3.71 or +0.15% and the NASDAQ Composite settled at 6140.51, down 3.84 or -0.06%.

The move in the Dow was supported by a sharp rise in Nike. Energy and consumer discretionary sectors contributed the most to the gains by the S&P 500 Index. The NASDAQ Composite continued to feel pressure from weaker technology stocks.

Economic News

U.S. economic data was generally upbeat. The Core PCE Price Index came in as expected, up 0.1%. Personal Spending also met expectations, up 0.1%, but below the previous 0.4%.

Personal Income came in at 0.4%, higher than the 0.3% forecast and previous read. Chicago PMI sounded beat the 58.1 forecast with a read of 65.7 and Revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment came in at 95.1, up from 94.5. It also beat the forecast.

Crude Oil

Crude oil prices rose for a seventh straight session on Friday on light volume. This is the longest rally since April. From a longer-term perspective, crude oil is down 16 percent this year while posting its worst first-half performance since 1998.

In other news, oilfield services firm Baker Hughes reported its weekly count of oil rigs operating in U.S. fields fell for the first time since January. It was down by two oil rigs to a total of 756.

Gold

A firmer U.S. Dollar and rising U.S. Treasury yields helped gold post is first monthly low for the year. The market was under pressure all week as central banks revved up talk about sooner-than expected interest rate hikes.

Gold ended the first half, up about 8 percent. Most of those gains, however, came in the first quarter of the year. Since that top, gold has steadily drifted lower as political uncertainty over the French elections and the start of Brexit negotiations, failed to draw enough attention from speculative buyers to sustain a rally.

A rate hike by the Fed in June and talk of another rate hike later in the year helped cap gold during the month. This week, the precious metal was further pressured by hawkish remarks about tightening monetary policy by the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.