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An afternoon rally pushed the major U.S. stock indexes into the green on Friday after the passage of a new round of fiscal stimulus.
News early Friday that the House passed a $484 billion bill, previously approved by the Senate, sent stocks higher in early trading. The bill provides aid to hospitals and small businesses. But the early gains dissipated as investors weighed news that orders for durable goods fell 14.1% in March, the second-biggest drop to date. The indicator is a decent proxy for business investment.
Then stocks rose again after President Donald Trump signed the stimulus bill into law on Friday afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered earlier losses to close up 260 points, or 1.1%—at its highs of the day. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.7%.
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Oil, which roiled markets earlier in the week after expiring May contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude plummeted to below zero, rose on Friday. WTI for June delivery settled up 2.7% at $16.94 a barrel. Nonetheless, the price of oil suffered its largest one-week decline ever, down 32.3% from last Friday’s close.
Stock indexes overseas fell to end the week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.9% and China’s Shanghai Composite index lost 1.1%. The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 1.1% Friday, while the German DAX dropped 1.7%, the French CAC 40 declined 1.3%, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index ticked down 1.3%.
Haven assets ended mixed on Friday. The price of gold fell 0.2% to $1,741.40 an ounce. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note ticked down 2 basis points, or hundredths of a percentage point, to 0.596%, as the price of the securities rose. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY)—which measures the greenback against a basket of other currencies—slipped 0.2%.
Corporate earnings news, and the latest fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, continued to move individual stocks.
Intel (ticker: INTC) stock rose 0.4% after the company reported far better than expected first-quarter results. Like many other companies recently, the chip maker withdrew its financial forecasts for the full year, noting that pandemic injected too much uncertainty into the economy to provide an outlook.
J.C. Penney (JCP) shares plunged 12.7% following a Wall Street Journal report that said it was in advanced talks to secure up to $1 billion in bankruptcy funding. Journal sources said a bankruptcy filing for the long-struggling department-store chain could come in a few weeks.
American Express (AXP) shares rose 0.9% after the credit-card issuer’s first-quarter profits turned out better than expected. It noted a drop in consumer spending at the end of February and through March despite a strong January and early part of February. The second quarter is likely to resemble the latter half of the first quarter. Amex increased its provision for credit losses by more than $1.7 billion to $2.6 billion.
A pair of telecom stocks were moving on news Friday morning. AT&T (T) shares rose 0.7% after its CEO of 13 years, Randall Stephenson, announced his retirement. Effective July 1, current president and COO John Stankey will assume the top job.
Stock in AT&T’s chief rival Verizon Communications (VZ) closed up 0.5% after the wireless provider’s first-quarter earnings report. Revenues and earnings held up relatively well despite the coronavirus, but that resilience was largely priced into the shares already. They’ve outperformed the S&P 500 by about 15 percentage points this year.
In Europe, stock in Nestlé, which is heavily weighted in the Stoxx Europe 600 index, climbed 3.2% after the company reported a solid first quarter, as consumers went on a buying spree for its frozen food products. The company also maintained its full-year outlook, though it cautioned of potential fallout from Covid-19.
—Barbara Kollmeyer contributed to this article.
Write to Carleton English at carleton.english@dowjones.com