CNBC: Stocks struggle for gains; Street digests Fed minutes
U.S. stocks traded in a range Friday as investors awaited quarterly earnings and continued to digest the implications of the Fed meeting minutes on the timing of a rate hike.
The major indexes attempted slight gains after briefly turning negative.
Apple held more than half a percent higher, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) fluctuated between gains and losses.
Stocks rallied Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average closing above the psychologically key levels of 2,000 and 17,000, respectively, for the first time since August.
The three major averages remained within 10 percent of their 52-week highs, or out of correction territory. The Russell 2000 also attempted to emerge from correction mode in intraday trade Friday.
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"The FOMC minutes actually shocked a lot of market participants that (policymakers) were a lot further away from raising rates in September than many believed," said John Caruso, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. "We could see an entirely different picture by the afternoon."
The September Fed meeting minutes released Thursday afternoon indicated policymakers were concerned about reaching their inflation target of 2 percent and the impact of the global economic slowdown. The minutes said policymakers don't expect to reach their inflation goal before the end of 2018.
Market sentiment increasingly expects a rate hike to come no earlier than the first few months of 2016, although liftoff later this year is still possible.
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Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said in a Reuters report Friday morning that a U.S. interest rate hike is still probably coming in October or December despite some conflicting economic signals, reinforcing the central bank's message.
New York Fed President William Dudley is due to speak to CNBC today at 11:00 a.m. ET. Separately, the Chicago Fed's Charles Evans is also scheduled to speak.
On the data front, import prices fell 0.1 percent in September, less than the expected 0.5 percent drop. However, export prices fell 0.7 percent, more than the 0.2 percent forecast by economists.
Treasury yields initially spiked before coming slightly off highs, with the 10-year at 2.11 percent and the 2-year at 0.64 percent as of 9:45 a.m.
The U.S. dollar traded lower against major world currencies, with the euro at $1.135 and the yen at 120.30 yen against the greenback.
Wholesale trade for August showed a 0.1 percent increase in inventories, while wholesale sales declined 1 percent.
Traders also awaited the beginning of earnings season, which gets underway with JPMorgan results next Tuesday. Alcoa reported earnings after the close Thursday that missed on both the top and bottom line.
Investors also weighed Thursday's news that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled out of the race for House speaker, adding uncertainty to congressional leadership ahead of key budget negotiations.
"That's obviously creating some near-term uncertainty," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
"We know we're in a leadership gap in the house and we're approaching a debt ceiling deadline," he said.
Some gains in commodities also lent some support to stocks. Copper rose more than 2.5 percent.
U.S. crude traded more than 1 percent higher,trying to hold above $50 a barrel. Brent crude gave up gains to trade mildly lower near $53 a barrel.
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index traded about half a percent higher. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei finished 1.6 percent higher while the Shanghai Composite closed 1.3 percent higher.
In morning trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 42 points, or 0.25 percent, at 17,093, with United Technologies leading advancers and Intel the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 traded up 4 points, or 0.17 percent, at 2,016, with materials leading seven sectors higher and energy the greatest decliner.
The Nasdaq traded up 0.23 points, or 0.01 percent, at 4,811.
About two stocks advanced for every decliner on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 77 million and a composite volume of 233 million.
High-frequency trading accounted for 49 percent of this month's daily trading volume of about 7.9 billion shares, according to TABB Group. During the peak levels of high-frequency trading in 2009, about 61 percent of 9.8 billion of average daily shares traded were executed by high-frequency traders.
Crude oil futures for November delivery gained 34 cents to $49.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $10.20 to $1,154.40 an ounce as of 9:43 a.m.
