Stocks Close Mostly Higher Following Powell Comments - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Friday following the most weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all ended the day firmly in positive territory.

The Dow rose 133.37 points or 0.5 percent to 25,790.35, the Nasdaq advanced 67.52 points or 0.9 percent to 7,945.98 and the S&P 500 climbed 17.71 points or 0.6 percent to 2,874.69.

For the week, the Nasdaq jumped by 1.7 percent, the S&P 500 climbed by 0.9 percent and the Dow rose by 0.5 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came following remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Kansas City Fed's economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Powell reiterated the Fed's stance that further gradual increases in interest rates will likely be appropriate if the strong growth in income and jobs continues.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing a much bigger than expected decrease in durable goods orders in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.7 percent in July after climbing by 0.7 percent in June. Economists had expected durable goods orders to drop by 0.5 percent.

Excluding a significant decrease in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.2 percent in July after inching up by 0.1 percent in June. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.5 percent.

Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.7 percent.

The rally by gold stocks came amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery spiking $19.30 to $1,213.30 an ounce.

Significant strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Networking, semiconductor, and chemical stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index all rose by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries ended the day roughly flat after recovering from initial weakness. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.826 percent.

Next week's trading may be impacted by reaction to reports on consumer confidence, pending home sales, and personal income and spending.