The New York equities markets were down slightly at mid-session on Friday after gains on Thursday as the Federal Reserve announced yet another interest rate hike. But, while the markets slumped after starting strongly again Friday morning, they still looked to end the week with gains overall.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 9.44 points lower at mid-session, to 11.181.36, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2 percent to 2,170.39 and the S&P 500 was only 0.3 points lower, to 1,272.57. However, the Dow was on track to see a gain of 1.7 percent this week, while the Nasdaq and the S&P were each up 2.3 percent on the week. The quarterly news wasn’t as good. While the Dow managed an 0.6 percent rise in the second quarter, the S&P was 1.7 percent lower in the quarter and the Nasdaq has fallen 7.2 percent since the end of March. Those figures leave the Dow up 4.3 percent in the first half of the year, the S&P up 1.9 percent in the first half, and the Nasdaq 1.6 percent lower. The losses in the Nasdaq reflect the difficulties that technology stocks have had so far this year.
That trouble in the technology sector was reflected in the week’s activity for data storage system maker EMC Corp and flash memory products manufacturer Micron Technology. EMC and Micron each dropped 8.6 percent on the week, to $10.54 and $15.00 respectively. EMC’s investors were concerned that it had offered to much to purchase IT security company RSA Security, while Micron’s stockholders were not happy with its quarterly report.
On the other hand, chipmaker Intel added 5.7 percent during the week to $19.02 on the launch of a new microprocessor for computer servers and the news that it has sold its unit to make chips for hand-held devices to Marvell Technology.
In the automobile manufacturing sector, General Motors added 7 percent ton the week to $28.86 after dropping substantially on Tuesday when it said that sales in 2006 would be below 2005 levels. But receipt of a letter from investor Kirk Kerkorian on Friday that said Renault and Nissan are both interested in purchasing stakes in GM sent shares higher.
ExxonMobil added 6.8 percent on the week to $62.05 as crude oil prices were on the rise again.