On Friday, the New York Stock Exchange ended marginally lower, following records in its key indices, which increased throughout the week. As Friday approached (the last deadline before a “shutdown”), talks in the U.S. Congress on a proposed $900 billion budget funding package have escalated, which can continue over the weekend. Another concern surfaced as Washington put the Chinese chip maker SMIC and 60 other Chinese organizations on the blacklist of the Commerce Department. Oil prices, however, kept increasing, with WTI reaching $50 per barrel.
At the close, the Dow Jones index fell -0.41% to 30,179 points, while the large S&P 500 index fell -0.35% to 3,709 points, and the Nasdaq Composite index, rich in technology and biotechnology, fell -0.07% to 12,755 points. All three indexes ended at historically high levels the previous day as did the Russell 2000 index, which measures average stocks. The DJIA rose 0.5 percent for the entire week the S&P 500 gained 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 3.1 percent.
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It was not only the U.S. markets that closed low on Friday as European markets also finished marginally lower earlier in the day concerning Brexit. The EuroStoxx 50 ended the session down 0.42 percent and while the CAC 40 also fell by 0.39 percent. Concerns over a no-deal Brexit resurfaced when EU negotiator Michel Barnier said there were only a few hours left to agree with London.
On Wall Street, on the occasion of the Days of the 4 Witches, the end of the session was volatile, corresponding to the expiry of options and futures on indices and U.S. equities on the same day.
Volatility was increased by re-balancing at the end of Friday’s session in portfolios linked to Tesla’s official entry (up 5.96 percent) into the S&P 500. The stock ended at a high $695, with a nearly $660 billion market capitalization. The stock came adding about 730% to its value so far this year.
