US close: JP Morgan spearheads gains in bank shares

Shares on Wall Street registered a sharp bounce on Friday - breaking a five session string of losses - ahead of the long weekend Stateside, as bank shares and crude oil futures rocketed amid better than expected figures on US retail sales.

The Dow Jones Industrials was up by 2.0% at the close of trading to 15,973.84, alongside a 1.95% advance for the S&P 500 to 1,864.78.

Friday's gains on the S&P 500 allowed the benchmark to pare its losses for the week to 15.27 points.

Crude futures rallied 12% from a 12-year low to end atop $29 a barrel on NYMEX; some market observers attributed the gains to remarks from Oil Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei on Sky News Arabia that the country was willing to cooperate with other producers to bring stability to the market.

Data out at the start of the session appeared to point to solid spending by households going forward, with their sentiment holding up as the recent drop in oil prices offset volatility in capital markets.

The KBW bank index notched up gains of 5.36% to 59.54 after news broke that JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon purchased 500,000 shares in the lender for $26m on Thursday, sending the share price up 7% in pre-market trade.

The NYSE Arca Biotech gauge was 4.09% higher to 2,70.71.

Gains on Wall Street were led by the following industrial groups: non-ferrous metals (13.09%), gambling (9.9%) and platinum (7.96%), as the Chicago Board of Trade's volatility index sank 9.74% to 25.40 points.

Retail sales volumes Stateside advanced 0.2% month-on-month in January (consensus: 0.1%), thanks to a boost from non-store sales.

"This morning’s release supports our expectation that consumption growth will rebound in Q1. [...] On net, we begin our tracking of Q1 GDP growth at 2.5%, with our estimate of real consumption growth in line with our published forecast at 3.0%," Barclays's Jesse Hurwitz said in a research report sent to clients.

Consumer sentiment more or less held up at the start of February according to a preliminary reading on the University of Michigan's confidence gauge, dipping from 92.0 in January to 90.7 (consensus: 92.3).

"Note the expectations index remains consistent with solid 3% growth in real consumption. We expect little change in the sentiment numbers next month too, with the latest drop in stocks likely to be offset by a 12%-plus collapse in gas prices in February compared to January," said Ian Sheperdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Another red Friday in Asia

Elsewhere, Asian markets sank on Friday, as investors continued their week-long run for cover and offloaded their riskier assets.
Investors were still turning to safe havens, in particular gold, government bonds, and the ever-popular yen. The currency had enjoyed a surge in recent days as its popularity increased, which was bad news for large firms in the island nation as the price of exports has jumped.

"There's obviously a series of worries out there, perhaps the biggest of which is that - aside from China - central banks are pushing around the end of a piece of string and then enter negative interest rates," Salt Funds Management managing director Matthew Goodson told New Zealand's National Business Review on the state of the region.

"What we're seeing in this current sell-off is a loss of faith in risk markets and central banks, and their ability to keep bailing markets out. You've driven risk-free rates even lower, but the risk premium investors demand has gone up.”

European equities racked up healthy gains on Friday, rebounding from heavy losses in the previous session as investors cheered results from the likes of Commerzbank and Rolls-Royce.

S&P 500 - Risers

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $69.14 +15.83%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $5.53 +13.09%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $8.93 +9.57%
Qorvo, Inc. (QRVO) $37.55 +8.75%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $7.40 +8.35%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $57.49 +8.33%
Regions Financial Corp. (RF) $7.60 +7.34%
Citigroup Inc. (C) $37.54 +7.32%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.95 +7.08%
SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) $33.53 +6.92%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $1.59 -10.67%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $28.12 -7.86%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $22.91 -7.43%
Dentsply International Inc. (XRAY) $54.73 -3.15%
L Brands Inc (LB) $81.87 -2.54%
Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) $70.72 -1.98%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $59.90 -1.92%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $16.92 -1.80%
Raytheon Co. (RTN) $120.24 -1.59%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $181.25 -1.45%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $57.49 +8.33%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $146.13 +3.87%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $107.49 +3.58%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $58.40 +3.14%
American Express Co. (AXP) $52.66 +3.03%
General Electric Co. (GE) $28.26 +2.95%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $85.43 +2.94%
Visa Inc. (V) $70.42 +2.85%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $63.15 +2.83%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $121.04 +2.71%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $152.73 +8.16%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $30.65 +5.95%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $167.75 +5.15%
Broadcom Limited (AVGO) $121.66 +4.60%
Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $88.79 +4.51%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $32.83 +4.45%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $83.23 +4.42%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $68.36 +4.35%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $141.11 +4.25%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $43.31 +4.24%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $28.12 -7.86%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $59.90 -1.92%
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class A (FOXA) $24.55 -0.53%
Liberty Interactive Corporation QVC Group (QVCA) $23.17 -0.39%
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class B (FOX) $24.67 -0.16%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $682.40 -0.10%