EQUITY MARKETS

US

S&P500 +0.85%(2,348.69); NASDAQ +1.82% (5,910.52); DJIA +0.46% (20,547.76)

This week’s reports:

April’s NY Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to 5.2 from March’s +16.4.
April’s Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey fell to 22 from March’s +32.8.
April’s NAHB Housing Market Index fell to 68 from March’s +71.
March’s CPI rose by 2.4% y/y versus February’s +2.7% y/y. Core CPI rose by 2% y/y versus February’s +2.2% y/y.
April’s Markit Manufacturing PMI (prelim.) fell to 52.8 from March’s 53.3. Markit PMI Composite (prelim.) fell to 52.7 from March’s 53. Markit Services PMI (prelim.) fell to 52.58 from March’s 52.8.
February’s Business Inventories remained unchanged from January’s +0.3%.
March’s Industrial Production rose 0.5% from February’s 0% change. Capacity Utilization rose to 76.1% from February’s +75.4%.
March’s Existing Home Sales rose to an annual pace of 5.71M from February’s pace of 5.47M.
March’s Housing Starts fell to 1.215M from February’s upwardly revised 1.303M. Building Permits rose to 1.260M from February’s upwardly revised 1.216M.
March’s Retail Sales fell -0.2% from February’s downwardly revised -0.3%. Retail Sales ex Autos remained unchanged from January’s +0.2%.
Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending April 14th rose by 10K to +244K. Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending April 7th fell by 49K to 1,979K.

US stocks posted their first weekly advance since the end of March.
The S&P 500 Index rallied 0.85 percent in its biggest weekly gain in two months.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index increased 0.5 percent on Friday, weighed down by earnings-related declines in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and IBM Corp.