By Victor Reklaitis and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks wavered between small
gains and losses in choppy trading Friday, but stayed on track for
big weekly gains.
Investors largely appeared to shrug off worries about New York's
first Ebola case, which had weighed on U.S. stock futures.
Sentiment got a lift from stronger-than-anticipated housing data
and better-than-expected quarterly results from companies such as
Procter & Gamble Co.
The S&P 500 (SPX) was last up less than 1 point to 1,952.
The benchmark is on track for a weekly gain of 3.4%, having bounced
back after slumping to a six-month intraday low in last week's
volatile action. That would represent its largest one-week advance
in 2014.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 17 points, or 0.1%,
to 16,694, as the blue-chip barometer eyed a 1.9% gain for the
week. The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) tacked on 7 points, or 0.2%, to
4,460. The tech-heavy index is on pace for a 4.7% advance for the
week.
Investors may be taking a cautious approach Friday before
results of stress tests for European banks, which come amid a raft
of data showing slowing growth in Europe. The release is expected
on Sunday, although a Bloomberg report on Friday said 25 banks
could fail the tests. Check out: 5 things to know about the ECB
stress tests
Today's key headlines: U.S. stock futures, as well as the dollar
(DXY), fell overnight following news late Thursday that a New York
doctor has contracted the deadly Ebola virus, marking the first
such case in the city. Treasurys strengthened "as [the] Ebola-scare
in New York spurred the safe-haven demand for bonds," ICICI Bank
wrote in a note.
At 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday, the Commerce Department said sales
of new homes in September rose slightly an annual rate of 467,000,
hitting a six-year high. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected
sales of 455,000.
Also around the corner is next week's Federal Reserve policy
meeting. The Fed is expected to end its third-round of bond buying,
which had been aimed at helping the U.S. economy emerge from the
2008 financial crisis.
"The central question then that traders will be asking (assuming
Ebola looks to be contained) will be whether the Fed removes the
'considerable period' for keeping the funds rate low," said Chris
Weston, chief market strategist at IG, referring to the Fed's
policy statement in a Friday note. It's likely the Fed will
"continue to see rates staying low for a considerable period of
time and remain confident in its economic outlook, thus sending a
message of confidence to the market," Weston wrote.
Movers & Shakers: Procter & Gamble (PG) shares climbed
3% for the best performance among Dow components. The
consumer-goods heavyweight said it plans to get out of its Duracell
battery business and posted adjusted quarterly earnings that
matched expectations.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), another Dow gainer, picked up 1% after
the tech titan posted quarterly profit and revenue that topped
forecasts.
Meanwhile, shipping giant United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS)
gained 1% after its quarterly results surpassed estimates, but
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) dropped 7% after the online retailer
reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss late Thursday.
Amazon was the S&P 500's worst performer.
(Read more about today's jumpiest stocks in the Movers &
Shakers column
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-ups-nasdaq-earnings-in-focus-2014-10-24.)
Other markets: In Asia, the Nikkei Stock Average rose 1% but
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.1%. European stocks moved lower.
Gold futures (GCZ4) were higher, while oil futures (CLZ4) lost
ground.
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