US Stocks were seen trading flat on Friday, unchanged from record-highs as Wal-Mart stocks posted an upbeat result, while sales for the company’s same-store climbed for the first time in two years. Wal-Mart shared climbed 4.7% after earnings came in higher than expected.
The S&P 500 index surged 0.05% to end at 2,039.28 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.2% higher to 17,652.28, boosted by Wal-Mart and Cisco Systems gains. The Nasdaq technology index gained 0.11% to close at 4,680.14.
The initial jobless claims in the world’s largest economy rose in the last week to 290,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to a weekly update released by the US Department of Labour on Thursday.
The report also showed new jobs in US companies dropped to 4.74 million in September, compared to the previous month, where there were 4.853 million job openings recorded.
A separate report showed that the US federal government came in at a deficit of $121.713 billion in October, compared to analysts forecast of a $117 billion budget shortfall.
Free Reports:
Stocks in the Asian region were seen trading mixed on the last day of the trading week, with Japanese stocks boosted by the weaker yen on speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold a snap election next month.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index rose 0.19% higher to 17,425.10 points, while Tokyo’s Topix index rallied 0.36% to 1,394.56 points. The Japanese yen weakened to a seven-year low against the US dollar, trading around 116.18 yen on Friday.
The weaker yen boosted gains for some of the region’s exporters, with Sony trading 1.9% higher, Honda Motor added 1.8%; Sekisui House gained 5% and Hitachi rose 1.4%.
A report from the nation’s Cabinet Office is forecasted to show the economy expanded by an annualized 2.25% in the September quarter.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell to 24,005.63 points, while the Chinese Mainland Shanghai Composite declined 0.42% to 2,475.13 points at the same time. The South Korean Kospi index retreated 0.84% to 1,944.11 points, while Australia’s benchmark S&P ASX 200 index added 0.13% to 5,449.90 points.
Europe stocks were mostly seen trading higher on Friday, while a recent report showed that Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) improved in the third quarter.
Europe’s Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.14% higher to 3,060.97, while in France, the benchmark CAC 40 index added 0.34% to 4,202.17 and UK’s FTSE 100 slid 0.9% lower to 6,629.54.
Germany’s DAX 30 index advanced 0.24% to 9,270.99 after a report from the Federal Statistical Office showed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.1% in the third quarter from the 0.1% decline seen in the previous quarter.
A separate report released showed that French economy grew 0.3% in the July-September period, while Italy’s GDP report for September is expected to show a 0.1% contraction.
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