US close: Stocks end mixed even as battle for Whole Foods heats up

Wall Street was mired in negative territory following weaker than expected economic data and after Amazon.com announced the takeover of Whole Foods amid the quarterly expiry of futures and options on shares and indices, the so-called 'quadruple witching'.

Amazon.Com Inc.

$202.61

13:09 15/11/24

-4.19%

-$8.87

Dow Jones I.A.

43,444.99

04:30 15/10/20

n/a

Kroger Co.

$58.02

11:04 15/11/24

-1.79%

-$1.06

Nasdaq 100

20,394.13

12:15 15/11/24

-2.40%

-502.54

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

$84.25

11:09 15/11/24

-0.26%

-$0.22

Whole Foods Market Inc.

$41.99

19:30 26/03/19

0.00%

-$0.00

By the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 0.11% or 24.38 points to 21,384.28, while the S&P 500 was ahead 0.3% or 0.69% points at 2,433.15 and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.22% 0r 13.74 points to 6,151.76.

"It's difficult to read too much into moves in equity markets with today being the expiry of June futures and options – otherwise known as quadruple witching – likely playing a big role," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

From a sector standpoint, the biggest losses were sustained by: Food Retail (-3.83%), Food & Drug Retailers (-3.63%), Drug Retailers (-3.50%), Footwear (-3.12%) and Tires (-2.18%).

For the week as a whole the Dow Jones added roughly 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was little changed and the Nasdaq-100 lost another 1.1%.

Grocers and discounters were among the most heavily traded issues on Friday, with stock in Wal Mart down by 4.65%, alongside falls of 9.24% in Kroger.

That followed news that Amazon.com had clinched the acquisition of rival Whole Foods for $13.7bn in cash, or $42 per share, sparking worries in the wider sector about the scope for intense competition.

Howewer, that may not be end of the story, with analysts at Barclays telling clients that a rival suitor, possibly Wal Mart or Kroger, might step in with a rival bid.

Barclays analyst Karen Short upped her target on Whole Foods from $38 a share to $48 and said the company may fetch as much as $57 a share.

The University of Michigan's consumer confidence gauge retreated only modestly at the start of June, slipping to 94.5 (consensus: 97.1) from an end of May level 97.1.

However, according to Richard Curtin, the survey's chief economist, Friday's preliminary data masked a much larger drop since 8 June, when Comey testified.

Prior to that event consumer confidence had averaged 97.7 but had since fallen to 86.7, Curtin said.

Homebuilders in the US broke ground on 5.5% fewer homes in May, with starts running at an annualised pace of 1.092, according to the Department of Commerce.

Economists had expected the annualised pace of housing starts to rise to 1.223m.

Meanwhile, oil prices were trading up ahead of Baker Hughes oil rig count data at 1800 BST, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 0.60% to $44.73 a barrel on the ICE.

Speaking at the Park Cities Rotary Club in Dallas, Federal Reserve President Rob Kaplan said the central bank should be "very careful" about raising rates.

Google's Alphabet was also in the spotlight following a report it could be fined more than €1bn by the European Commission over allegations it abused its position in the search engine market.

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