The markets closed out the week with mostly small gains. The Dow 30 closed out the week higher by 58 and the S&P 500 closed higher by 2, but the Nasdaq 100 was lower by 17. Next week the earnings season hits its peak with a slew of names reporting.
Sector News
Energy was a strong area today thanks to a response to earnings from Exxon Mobil (XOM ) and Chevron (CVX ). Both of these names make up 40% of the ETF (XLE ). Rising oil prices were stated as a strong tailwind to the beat by both companies. The energy sector is now higher by double digits on the year.
REITs pulled back today after being positive 16 of the last 20 days. The sector has had an amazing run back to technical resistance, where traders took their profits today. The ICF International (ICF ) is still higher by over 14% since hitting lows back in December.
Semiconductors had another strong day and are now less than 3% from hitting the 200-day moving average.
Gold and Gold mining took the day off after the recent pop to highs. Technical traders note the short-term overbought conditions as the reason for profits pulling back.
Stock News
Amazon (AMZN ) shares were lower today despite the company reporting earnings that beat expectations. The company also reported revenue that was better than expected, but investors focused on their guidance, which was light for the first quarter. The company also saw a little weakness in their physical stores division along with prime memberships. Since the start of the year, shares have traded in a tight range just under the 200-day moving average.
Cigna (CI ) shares were lower on the day as the company reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations, but investors were focused on guidance going forward, which they posted at $16-$16.50 per share. Analysts had expected to see closer to $16.75 per share.
Merck (MRK ) shares broke to new highs on the year as the company showed a profit of $1.04 per share, which just beat analysts expectations. Revenue was also higher than expected thanks in part to Keytruda, their cancer drug, which saw a spike of 66% from this time last year. Merck is now the third-best performing stock in the drug manufacturing industry.
