U.S Stocks opened higher Friday as investors remained confident of a possible interest rates hike next month. This comes a day after the S&P 500 plunged to its lowest in two months.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI climbed 30.75 points, or 0.18%, to 17,466.15, while the S&P 500 .SPX rose 5.09 points, or 0.25%, to 2,045.13. The Nasdaq composite .IXIC jumped 18.53 points, or 0.39%, to 4,731.07.
Most sectors looked upbeat with the basic materials sector climbing the most +1.01%, the energy sector rose +0.58%, and the industrials rising +0.45%.
Top losers included: As of 10:00am EDT, Foot Locker Inc (FL.N) had dropped $3.63 or -6.2%, Campbell Soup Co. (CPB.N) declined $3.44, or -5.38%, Constellium NV (CSTM.N) was down $-0.2, or -3.82%, Teekay Tankers Ltd (TNK.N) was down $-0.15, or -4.2%, and Deere & Co (DE.N) fell $-2.99, or -3.64%.
Top gainers: Interoil Corp (IOC.N) rose $10.37, or 32.76% to $42.12, Keysight Technologies Inc (KEYS.N) jumped $3.71, or 14.27% to $29.77, LG Display Co Ltd (LPL.N) shares climbed $0.87, or 8.50% to $11.44, Quorum Health Corp (QHC.N) increased $0.74, or 6.30% to $12.77, while Dycom Industries Inc (DY.N) rose $2.16, or 3.10% to $73.49.
The U.S Dollar declined -0.51% against the Sterling Pound, and rose against the Yen and Euro.
In the commodities market, Crude Oil fell $-0.24 to $47.92, Gold rose $+1.20 to $1,255.40, or +1.47%.
U.S Homes
U.S. home resales climbed April, signaling the economy continues to gather pace during the second quarter. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday existing home sales increased 1.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.45 million units.
The number of unsold homes on the market rose 9.2 percent to 2.14 million in April from March but was down 3.6 percent compared to a year ago. Nationwide, the median home price stood at $232,500. That was an increase of 6.3 percent from one year ago.
Market Volatility
Fidelity Investments reported plans for several new exchange-traded funds on Friday. The plans included some to deal with increasing interest rates and rising market volatility.
The proposed funds include Fidelity Core Dividend ETF, Fidelity Dividend for Rising Rates, Fidelity Low Volatility Factor ETF, Fidelity Momentum Factor ETF, Fidelity Quality Factor ETF and Fidelity Value Factor ETF. The plans were unveiled in a prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.