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Market Commentary - Foreign Markets

The Nasdaq climbed while the S&P 500 and Dow fell. Retail sales slumped in January, though industrial production rose. Airline and tech stocks surged while gold and pharma stocks dropped.

Stock Markets See Mixed Performance Amid Economic Data Reports

17-Feb-2025, 10:24
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 81.13 points or 0.4% to 20,026.77, the S&P 500 edged down 0.44 points or less than a tenth of a% to 6,114.64 and the narrower Dow fell 165.35 points or 0.4% to 44,546.08.

The Commerce department released a report showing retail sales slumped by much more than expected in January. The report said retail sales slid by 0.9% in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7% in December.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production rose by more than expected in January, although the increase was largely due to a weather-related surge by utilities output. The Fed said industrial production climbed by 0.5% in January after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.0% in December.

Major sectors showed only modest moves while computer hardware stocks extended Thursday's rally, driving the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index up by 2.9% to a record closing high. Airline stocks were significantly strong , as reflected by the 2.3% surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Gold stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 4.2% nosedive by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Pharmaceutical stocks too notably moved downwards, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 1.7%.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index spiked by 3.7% and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4%, although Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the uptrend and slid by 0.8%. the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.4%.

In the bond market, treasuries extended the strong upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 5.3 bps to 4.47%.