WRAPX End of Day Summary: Stocks Modestly Extend Climb
The broad market mustered a modest gain on Friday, feeding a 1.4% gain for the week. The climb has the S&P 500 at a new nine-month high... A steady climb in the prior session was followed by only modest buying this morning. Many participants seemed hesitant to commit new money to the market now that it is up more than 25% from its October intraday low. The hesitation allowed stocks to drift lower, but the broad market was able to find support at the flat line. From there it gradually worked its way to a narrow gain, which helpd feed the stock market's sixth weekly advance in seven weeks... Financials offered support by climbing to a 0.6% gain, but consumer discretionary stocks were the session's best performers with their 0.8% climb... Tech stocks, which represent the largest sector by market weight, lagged all session and settled with an incremental loss. Still, relative weakness among tech issues weighed on the Nasdaq, which had actually outperformed its counterparts in the prior session to book its best close since late 2000... Hardly any commotion came in response to headlines that both the House and Senate have passed payroll tax extensions since both were widely expected to do so... There weren't any official updates on the dealings between officials from Greece and the eurozon, but the euro managed to attract some support. It finished the week near $1.32. That made for a 0.2% gain on Friday, but a 0.3% loss for the week... The expiration of monthly options drove share volume higher, but the number of shares exchanged on the NYSE still didn't come anywhere close to breaking 1 billion.
