Market Wrap for Friday, May 24: Stocks Close Week Near Unchanged Mark

A day after a sell-off hit much of the world, but spared the United States, the U.S. market was essentially flat on the last trading session of the week. Although there are signs that a pullback may be imminent, investors continue to pour money into U.S. stocks on expectations that the bull market will continue. Although the S&P 500 finished slightly lower on the week, the widely watched average is already up a little less than 16 percent in 2013.

Major Averages

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed a little less than 9 points, or 0.06 percent, to 15,303.

The S&P 500 fell around 1 point, or 0.06 percent, to 1,650.

The Nasdaq lost less than a point, or 0.01 percent, to close at 3,459.

Durable Goods

Durable goods orders rose 3.3 percent in April after falling 5.9 percent for March. This came in ahead of the consensus which expected durable goods orders to rise 1.6 percent.

Excluding transportation, durable goods orders increased 1.3 percent in April after falling 1.7 percent in March. This compared to consensus estimates calling for an increase in durable goods for April of 0.5 percent.

Commodities

Energy prices were mixed to end the trading week. Late in the day, NYMEX crude futures were down 0.32 percent to $93.95. Brent contracts were last up 0.11 percent to $102.55. Natural gas fell around 0.59 percent on the day and was last trading at $4.24.

Precious metals were marginally lower on the session. Heading into the close of equities, COMEX gold futures had lost 0.45 percent to $1,385.60. Silver contracts were down 0.55 percent to $22.39. Copper shed 0.18 percent on Friday.

The grains complex was largely lower to end the week. At last check, corn futures had shed 0.72 percent while wheat was down 0.82 percent. In soft commodities, movers included cocoa and coffee. Cocoa lost more than 2 percent while coffee was trading down 1.62 percent.

Bonds

Near the close, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) was up 0.20 percent to $116.87. Bond yields fell at the long end of the curve on Friday.

Both the 2-Year Note yield and the 5-Year Note yield were unchanged at 0.25 percent and 0.89 percent, respectively. The 10-Year Note yield lost one basis point to 2.01 percent while the 30-Year Bond yield shed two basis points to 3.17 percent.

Currencies

Late in the day on Friday, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was down 0.13 percent to $22.71.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading basically unchanged at $1.2933. The USD/JPY fell 0.87 percent on the session and the AUD/USD lost 0.85 percent.

Volatility and Volume

The VIX continued to rise on Friday, but gains were modest. Late in the day, the widely watched barometer of market fear was up 2.20 percent to 14.38.

Volume was lighter than normal for the first time in three days on Friday. Around 116 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 127 million.

Stock Movers

Shares of Infoblox (NYSE:BLOX) climbed more than 13 percent on the day after the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings results.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals had climbed around 13 percent late in the day after a report that the company is close to buying Bausch & Lomb Holdings from Warburg Pincus for around $9 billion.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) continued its recent rally on Friday and was trading up around 5 percent near the close.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) added around 5 percent after the company won a jury trial brought by the family of a patient who underwent surgery for prostate cancer that used one of the ISRG's da Vinci surgical systems.

Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD) fell 14 percent after the company reported disappointing first-quarter results.

Video-game retailer GameStop (NYSE:GME) shed more than 11 percent after the company's Q1 financial results.

Clothing retailer Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) fell more than 10 percent on Friday in the wake of a disappointing Q1 report.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) had lost around 8 percent heading into the close after reporting a loss for its fiscal first-quarter and revenues which missed Wall Street consensus.