S&P falls on Friday but still up for the week

Equity prices finished lower in Europe on Friday and the trend continued in Wall Street. Near the end of the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.60% at 2,134 but still up 0.50% for the week. Main stock indexes in the US were lower on Friday and modestly higher for the week, but far from Monday highs (when Fed’s Brainard comments sent prices sharply higher).

Among the worst performers in equities on Friday were Deutsche Bank shares, losing 9% after the US Justice Department asked the German bank to pay USD 14.000 to settle probes it mis-sold mortgage-backed securities.

The US session was not as volatile as some expected with the “quadruple witching” (expiration of stock-index futures, stock options, stock-index options and single-stock futures) and also after US inflation data. The CPI rose in August 0.2% (vs 0.1% expected) with the annual core rate advancing to 2.3%. Traders remained focused on next week FOMC meeting.

A decline in crude oil prices (-2.0%) contributed to the decline in equity price. A stronger US dollar in the market also pushed gold prices to the downside, with the ounce falling below $1310 for the first time since September 2.