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Roundup: U.S. stocks end mixed amid Fed Chair Yellen's speech, GDP data

Xinhua, September 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks pared early gains to finish mixed Friday, as investors digested U.S. Federal Chair Janet Yellen's speech and the second revision of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) data for the second quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 113.35 points, or 0.70 percent, to 16,314.67. The S&P 500 edged down 0.90 point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,931.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 47.98 points, or 1.01 percent, to 4,686.50.

In Thursday's speech after the closing bell at the University of Massachusetts, Chair Yellen said that she anticipated a rate hike in the coming months.

"Most FOMC participants, including myself, currently anticipate that achieving these conditions will likely entail an initial increase in the federal funds rate later this year, followed by a gradual pace of tightening thereafter," she said.

"She sounded sort of hawkish," said Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director at Deep Value, Friday.

On the economic front, U.S. real GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to the third estimate released by the U.S. Commerce Department Friday.

The revised-up GDP data was mainly boosted by stronger consumer spending and construction.

Meanwhile, the final reading of consumer sentiment index published by Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan came in at 87.2 for September, up from an 85.7 reading earlier this month.

In corporate news, shares of Nike surged 8.89 percent to 125 U.S. dollars apiece Friday, which helped the blue-chip Dow outperform the other two indices, after the sports shoe maker posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Overseas, European equities rebounded strongly Friday following three straight days of losses, with British benchmark FTSE 100 Index jumping 2.47 percent, as concerns over the health of the global economy dimmed slightly after Yellen's speech.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.4 percent, and the S&P 500 dropped 1.4 percent, while the Nasdaq tumbled 2.9 percent.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 0.64 percent to end at 23.62 Friday.

In other markets, oil prices gained Friday as data signaled that U.S. crude output is contracting.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery moved up 79 cents to settle at 45.7 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery increased 43 cents to close at 48.6 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The U.S. dollar increased against other major currencies Friday as Yellen said the U.S. central bank was on track to raise interest rate this year.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1196 dollars from 1.1220 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 120.62 Japanese yen, higher than 120.03 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange closed lower Friday, with the most active gold contract for December delivery losing 8.20 dollars, or 0.71 percent, to settle at 1,145.60 dollars per ounce. Endit