U.S. stocks reversed course to trade higher by Friday afternoon, looking to break a five-day losing streak, but were still on track to post their biggest weekly drop in more than a month.
According to new data from Thomson Reuters as of Thursday, investors pulled $4.1 billion out of U.S. stock funds in the latest week, the second straight week of net outflows. Wall Street is coming off five straight sessions of losses after yesterday's move by the Swiss National Bank to lift its currency ceiling and as oil prices tumbled.
In the final hour of trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 106 points at 17,427, while the Nasdaq rose 39 points to 4,610 and the S&P 500 added 16 points to 2,009. The Dow plunged 106 points on Thursday, after the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly scrapped its long-standing floor against the euro.
On the economic calendar in the US today, the government released the consumer price index for December, which posted its biggest drop in six years, falling 0.4% last month as expected, led by energy. Core consumer prices, excluding food and energy, remained unchanged.
In addition to consumer prices, investors also got a read on the manufacturing sector. Industrial production slipped 0.1% in December as expected, following a 1.3% jump in November. Overall capacity utilization eased to 79.7% in December from 80% in November.
Meanwhile, preliminary figures on January consumer sentiment showed a reading of 98.2 for the highest level since January 2004, far better than consensus expectations for a reading of 94 and the prior 93.6 level.
Oil prices rebounded today after the International Energy Agency said non-OPEC oil producers will increase output this year at a slower rate than previously forecast, rebalancing the over-supplied global markets in the second half of 2015. WTI crude for February delivery rose more than 4% to settle at $48.69 a barrel, squeezing out a weekly gain.
In corporate activity, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) slid 1.7% after the company's fourth quarter profit fell over 7% as revenue from trading and investment banking dropped. The bank turned in the sharpest year-over-year drop in fixed income, currencies and commodities trading from the US invesment banks that have reported fourth quarter results so far.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped forecasts last night, but first quarter guidance was slightly disappointing.
Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) said it is planning to cut 9,000 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce, amid declining oil prices. Shares rose over 5% on Friday.
BP (NYSE:BP) is facing fines for its Gulf oil spill of up to $13.7 billion, about 22% less than the maximum after a judge ruled the size of the disaster was smaller than initially feared.
EU regulators said Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) tax arrangements in Luxembourg may violate EU law, giving the US e-commerce giant an illegal advantage over competitors.
RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) extended losses, falling another 6.5% today after a 35% plunge on Thursday as new reports said the electronics chain is in active talks with Sprint (NYSE:S) to sell the leases for some of its stores. Bloomberg also confirmed the scoop from the Wall Street Journal yesterday that the company is preparing for a bankruptcy filing as soon as next month.
Shares of Wet Seal (NASDAQ:WTSL) also tumbled over 52% after the teen apparel retailer voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
European markets turned to finish sharply higher today, with shares in France leading the region. Asian markets mostly closed in the red, with Japan's Nikkei settling down 1.4%. Gold futures rose almost 1% to settle at US$1,276.9 as traders continued to stock up on the metal in the wake of recent currency market turmoil and weak inflation data.