Wall Street ended the week with a choppy session on Friday, as investors weighed new economic data against rising U.S.-China trade tensions. The Trump administration announced that it will block semiconductor shipments to Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Friday. This action prompted Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Chinese state-run newspaper The Global Times, to tweet (NYSE: TWTR) that China is ready to "restrict or investigate" U.S. tech companies including Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) if the U.S. block's Huawei's supply chain.
Meanwhile, investors also digested the U.S. Commerce Department's monthly retail sales report that saw sales fall by 16.4% in April due to the coronavirus related shutdowns. However, University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers headline consumer sentiment index rose to 73.7 from 71.8 in April, a record low.
"Despite these gains, personal financial prospects for the year ahead continued to weaken, falling to the lowest level in almost six years, with decline especially sharp among upper income households," Surveys of Consumers chief economist, Richard Curtin warned in a statement. "Improved views on buying conditions were due to discounted prices and low interest rates, although their impact was partially offset by uncertainties about job and income prospects."
Here's how the market closed on Friday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.39% or +11.2 points to 2,863.7
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.25% or +60.08 points to 23,685.42
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.79% or +70.84 points to 9,014.56
In Major Stock News, DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) share jumped after the company reported a 30% increase in year-to-year revenues. CEO Jason Robins stated that that company is "uniquely posited at the intersection of digital sports entertainment and gaming in a rapidly growing industry." Chip stocks--Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Micron (NASDAQ: MU)--fell following the new trade tensions between the U.S. and China. JC Penny (NYSE: JCP) soared on Friday after the company said it had made an interest payment of about $17 million that was due on May 7. The company is reported to be working toward a bankruptcy filing.
In Stock Sector News, sectors ended Friday's session with a mixed bag of performance gains and losses. The half that gained include Communication Services +1.26%, Consumer Discretionary +1.06%, Materials +0.96%, Consumer Staples +0.76%, Health Care +0.73% and Information Technology. The rest that post performance losses include Utilities -1.41%, Financials -0.73%, Real Estate -0.44%, Industrials -0.31% and Energy -0.28%.
In Commodity and Currency News, crude oil futures continue to gain, with West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) increasing about 7.6% to just under $30 per barrel and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) jumping about 4% to settle at $32.50 per barrel. Gold's (NYSE: GLD) price fell over 0.10% on Friday, bringing the metal's ounce price to about $1,742. Lastly, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) slightly fell -0.06%.
For Monday, investors will be monitoring weekend relations between U.S.-China as well as corporate earnings from companies like Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), Softbank (OTC: SFTBY) and Trivago (NASDAQ: TRVG).