Gold Edges Lower; AutoNation Earnings Top Expectations

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 gaining around 0.3% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.21% to 35,300.24 while the NASDAQ rose 0.14% to 14,083.61. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.29% to 4,548.20.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Utilities shares climbed by 1.6% on Friday.
• In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell by 0.4%.

Top Headline

AutoNation Inc AN reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter

AutoNation reported second-quarter FY23 sales growth of 0.3% year-on-year to $6.89 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $6.74 billion. Adjusted EPS of $6.29 beat the consensus of $5.90.

Equities Trading UP

• Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC shares shot up 56% to $20.85 after the company announced it reached a settlement with the SEC.
• Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. SFBS got a boost, shooting 18% to $57.34 following upbeat second-quarter results.
• Bitcoin Depot Inc. BTM shares were also up, gaining 13% to $3.47 after the company reported second-quarter preliminary revenues and provided 2023 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

• The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. IPG shares dropped 12% to $33.22 after the company reported second-quarter financial results.
• Shares of RedHill Biopharma Ltd. RDHL were down 24% to $1.41 after the company announced registered direct offering for the purchase and sale of 1,301,923 ADS's and warrant exercise for $3.8 million gross proceeds.
• Sirius XM Holdings Inc. SIRI was down, falling 11% to $6.99 after multiple firms downgraded their rating on the stock following yesterday's rally.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $76.87 while gold traded down 0.2% at $1,966.60.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $24.850 on Friday while copper fell 0.5% to $3.8165.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.32%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.23% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.55% The German DAX fell 0.17% French CAC 40 rose 0.65% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.14%.

The consumer confidence indicator in Spain surged to 92.4 in June from 73 in the prior month, recording the highest level since Oct. 2021. Retail sales in the UK increased by 0.7% from the prior month in June, following a revised 0.1% growth in the previous month.

The GfK Consumer Confidence indicator in the UK declined to a reading of -30 in July from -24 in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.57%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.06% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.78%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 1.3%.

The annual inflation rate in Japan rose to 3.3% in June from 3.2% a month ago, while core consumer price index increased 3.3% from a year ago in June.

Economics

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 7 to 530 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 107,433,830 cases with around 1,169,130 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,995,050 cases and 531,910 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 691,770,990 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,901,640 deaths.