Wall St fails to pick up China baton, gold hits all-time high

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks were mixed and crude prices were on track for their biggest weekly drop in a month as weak data and disappointing corporate earnings added to worries over softening global demand.

Gold, meanwhile, muscled past the $2,700 mark for the first time ever.

The rally in Chinese stocks in reaction to Beijing's latest policy steps to boost demand failed to extend itself to Wall Street.

Tech-adjacent megacap momentum stocks boosted the Nasdaq, while the S&P 500 's gains were more modest. The blue-chip Dow was last in negative territory.

All three indexes, however, have set course for their sixth consecutive week of gains.

A spate of earnings ran the gamut from upbeat to dour, with streaming platform Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX ) showing strong subscriber additions, while consumer products company Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG ) reported a surprise drop in sales due to slowing demand for its products.

"The markets today are reacting to mixed earnings data and investors are looking to hang their hats on anything to gauge the trajectory of where the markets and the economy are going," said Greg Bassuk, Chief Executive Officer at AXS Investments in New York.

"Mixed economic data, mixed earnings data, uncertainty of the likelihood of more Fed rate cuts this year and the (U.S. presidential) election’s close proximity - those are four major factors that are causing jitters among investors regarding how the market’s going to react for the balance of the year," Bassuk added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81.92 points, or 0.19%, to 43,157.13, the S&P 500 rose 14.58 points, or 0.24%, to 5,855.74 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 99.59 points, or 0.54%, to 18,473.20.

European stocks were led higher by a resurgence in tech stocks at the conclusion of a choppy week, which included mixed earnings and an interest rate cut from the European Central Bank. The STOXX was on track for its second weekly advance.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.48 points, or 0.41%, to 855.55. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.16%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 3.97 points, or 0.19%.

Emerging market stocks rose 20.01 points, or 1.76%, to 1,155.14.

U.S. Treasury yields dropped as the market consolidated following large increases over the last month as market participants grew accustomed to a less dovish Fed in the face of stronger-than-expected economic data.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 2.7 basis points to 4.069%, from 4.096% late on Thursday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 2.5 basis points to 4.3694% from 4.394% late on Thursday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 3 basis points to 3.957%, from 3.987% late on Thursday.

The dollar dipped but looked set to log its third consecutive weekly gain, helped by a dovish European Central Bank and solid U.S. economic data.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.21% to 103.56, with the euro up 0.23% at $1.0856.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.34% to 149.69.

Front-month oil futures dropped and were on course for their biggest weekly slide since early September due to mounting concerns about Chinese demand and easing supply risk from the Middle East conflict.

U.S. crude fell 2.09% to $69.19 a barrel and Brent fell to $72.97 per barrel, down 2% on the day.



Gold prices busted through the $2,700 mark for the first time as the safe haven metal continues to benefit from the prospect of further monetary easing and persistent uncertainties arising from the U.S. presidential election and the conflict in the Middle East.

Spot gold rose 0.87% to $2,716.01 an ounce.

Source: Investing.com