Friday was an incredible day for the broad U.S. markets after a week of sliding. All the indexes initially started out lowered, but as the session went on positive momentum kept building to put the markets close to even for the week. Some analysts are attributing this in part to the “just right” or “Goldilocks” unemployment report that came out Friday morning. Others are saying Warren Buffett’s announcement of buying more Apple is another driver. Crude oil made another incredible gain in the session and is nearly at $70. The S&P 500 sectors were entirely positive. The most positive sectors were technology, consumer staples, and consumer discretionary up 1.8%, 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively. The “worst” performing sector was energy, which was up only 0.3%.
Crude oil was up 1.9% at $69.74.
Gold was flat at $1,314.60.
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Friday was Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) which traded down about 22% at $45.75. The stock’s 52-week range is $37.04 to $62.09. Volume was 12 million compared to the daily average volume of 1.3 million.
The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Friday was Stericycle, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRCL) which rose about 8% to $63.84. The stock’s 52-week range is $56.64 to $88.00. Volume was 2 million compared to the daily average volume of 1 million.