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 The S&P 500 ended at a record closing high for the second day in a
row. Friday's milestone also was the S&P 500's fifth record closing
high in the past seven sessions.
But the overall sentiment was cautious and trading was volatile
throughout the session as investors adjusted their positions ahead
of the weekend and kept a close eye on the simmering crisis in
Ukraine.
The S&P 500 had climbed to an intraday record of 1,883.57 shortly
after the opening bell, lifted by the Labor Department's report
showing that U.S. employers added 175,000 jobs to their payrolls in
February. Economists had expected a gain of 149,000 jobs, according
to a Reuters poll.
"It seems that the decent February employment report, although a
step in the right direction, has resolved little," said Andrew
Wilkinson, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers LLC in
Greenwich, Connecticut.
"Stocks are suffering from some inevitable ebbing following the
latest strong flow. That, in turn, has prompted further defensive
demand for the protection afforded by options."
The CBOE Volatility Index or the VIX <.VIX>, Wall Street's fear
gauge, fell 0.7 percent to close at 14.11. But VIX April and May
futures were up at 15.83 and 16.45, respectively.
The intermediate-term picture of the stock market remains bullish,
but "the overbought conditions are building and a sharp, but
short-lived correction can be expected at any time," said Larry
McMillan, president of McMillan Analysis Corp, in a note to clients.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 30.83 points or 0.19
percent, to end at 16,452.72. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 1.01 points
or 0.05 percent, to finish at 1,878.04. But the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC>
dropped 15.903 points or 0.37 percent, to close at 4,336.223.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended higher for the second straight
week, with the Dow up 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 up 1 percent. The
Nasdaq recorded its fifth straight weekly advance, up 0.7 percent.
Boeing Co <BA.N> shares fell 1 percent in extended-hours trading
following news that "hairline cracks" had been discovered in the
wings of 787 Dreamliner jets still in production. Boeing shares had
ended the regular session at $128.54, down 0.3 percent. Nike Inc <NKE.N> shares, up 1.6 percent at $79.46, and Exxon Mobil <XOM.N>,
up 1.3 percent at $94.99, ranked as the Dow's top gainers and helped
the blue-chip average outperform the broader market.
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Geopolitical concerns increased when Russian President Vladimir
Putin rebuffed a warning from U.S. President Barack Obama over
Moscow's military intervention in Crimea, saying Russia could not
ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in Ukraine.
After investors piled into gold, crude and grains on Monday as
tensions escalated over Crimea, they have cautiously returned to
stocks around the world. A gauge of global equities <.MIWD00000PUS>
traded near a six-year high.
Shares of FireEye Inc <FEYE.O> dropped 9.5 percent to $81.04 after
the network security company priced a follow-on public offering. The
company sold 14 million shares of its common stock at $82 per share.
Safeway Inc <SWY.N>, the second-largest U.S. mainstream grocery
store operator, said Thursday that private equity firm Cerberus
Capital Management would acquire the company in a deal valued at
about $9.4 billion. Safeway shares fell 2.2 percent to $38.60.
Skullcandy Inc <SKUL.O> shares shot up 24.2 percent to $9.23 after
the headphone maker posted fourth-quarter earnings and provided an
outlook for the first quarter and full year.
Big Lots Inc <BIG.N> shares surged 23 percent to $35.97 after the
close-outs retailer reported a better-than-expected adjusted profit
for the holiday quarter.
About 6.9 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, according to data
from BATS Global Markets, slightly below the daily average of about
7 billion in the past month.
Decliners outnumbered advancers on the New York Stock Exchange by
1,751 to 1,247. On the Nasdaq, a total of 1,320 stocks fell, while
1,264 rose.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
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