Benzinga Market Wrap for Friday, August 2: Moderate Growth Follows Thursday's Record Highs!

The U.S. stock market enjoyed moderate growth on Friday after on strong global economic data and decent job figures.
Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.34 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 15,658.36.
The S&P 500 added 2.80 points, or .16 percent, to finish at 1,709.67.
The Nasdaq rose 13.85 points, or .38 percent, to finish at 3,689.59.

Commodities
Crude oil futures were down across the board. At last check, NYMEX crude futures were trading down 1.07 percent to $106.74. Brent crude futures gained lost .62 percent and were trading at $108.86.
COMEX gold futures had shed 0.18 percent to $1,308.90 while silver contracts grew, last up 0.18 percent to $19.80.
In the grains complex, corn fell .70 percent and wheat rose on the day. Wheat .38 percent, partially reversing yesterday’s action.

Bonds
Treasuries rallied today as positive job reports eases tapering speculation. iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT gained back a bit of value, reclaiming 1.12 percent of the
Yields were as follows on the day. The 2-Year Note yield was sitting at 0.30 percent. The yield on the 5-Year Note was 1.36 percent. The 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond were yielding 2.61 percent and 3.69 percent, respectively.

Currencies

The U.S. Dollar lost value today, roughly half a percent lower according to the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies.
The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last up 0.58 percent to $1.3284. Other movers included the USD/JPY, which lost .67 percent and the USD/CAD, which picked up 0.46 percent.

Volatility and Volume
The CBOE Volatility Index has fallen even further, dropping another 6.96 percent.
Despite being in the midst of earnings season, volume was low today with roughly 68 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY traded, approximately 50 percent lower than the three month average.

Stock Movers

Shares of LinkedIn LNKD climbed more than 10 percent today, breaking $263 on the back of solid earnings.
Viacom VIAB also bumped higher today after a 20 percent rise in net income in the third-quarter, settling with a near 6.5 percent increase at the close.
Athlon Energy ATHL posted a successful IPO and jumped by a hefty 37.8 percent.
Shares of MRC Global MRC fell over 10 percent due to a weaker than expected revenue figure and a negative FY13 forecast.
Alpha Natural Resources ANR shares fell 9.01 percent after a wider Q2 adjusted loss.
ValueClick VCLK dropped 14.86 percent to $21.37 while reporting a 41% fall in its Q2 profit.