US stocks finished mostly higher on Friday to wrap up a subdued week, with technology companies doing most of the heavy lifting. Investors were also pleased to see that shoppers spent more money last month.
Printer and PC maker HP Inc sent technology companies higher after releasing a strong profit forecast for next year.
Big names such as Intel Corp and Facebook Inc also rose.
Companies in retail, travel and entertainment moved up after a US Department of Commerce report on retail spending.
Health insurers and hospital operators skidded after US President Donald Trump said he would stop government payments to insurance companies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The S&P 500 on Friday added 2.24 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 2,553.17, a increase of 0.2 percent from 2,549.33 on Oct. 6.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday picked up 30.71 points, or 0.1 percent, to end at 22,871.72, rising 0.4 percent from a close of 22,773.67 a week earlier.
The NASDAQ composite on Friday gained 14.29 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at a record high of 6,605.80, edging up 0.2 percent from 6,590.18 on Oct. 6.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks on Friday slid 2.51 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,502.66, a drop of 0.6 percent compared with a close of 1,511.41 a week earlier.
The department said US retail sales last month grew 1.6 percent after a small decline in August. Much of the gain came from car and gasoline sales.
Sales of cars jumped as people living in the US’ southeast and Gulf Coast replaced vehicles that were destroyed by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which also caused temporary spikes in gasoline prices.
However, other types of spending grew by a solid amount as well.
HP forecast a larger annual profit than analysts expected and said it would return at least 50 percent of its free cash flow to shareholders by paying dividends or buying back stock.
HP stock gained US$1.31, or 6.4 percent, to US$21.71.
The White House late on Thursday said that it is stopping subsidy payments to insurers under the 2010 healthcare law.
Those payments help reduce copays and deductibles for people with lower incomes. The move could increase losses for insurers and reduce payments to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Adding to the uncertainty, the sign-up period for subsidized private insurance starts on Nov. 1.
Medicaid program administrator Centene Corp lost US$3.12, or 3.2 percent, to US$90.56 and insurer Anthem Inc gave up US$5.81, or 3.1 percent, to US$184.38.
Hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp dropped US$0.71, or 5.1 percent, to US$13.15 and ambulatory surgery center operator Envision Healthcare fell US$0.91, or 2.2 percent, to US$40.74.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note declined from 2.32 percent to 2.27 percent.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained