By Saumya Vaishampayan and Austen Hufford
U.S. stocks rose in early trading Friday, following two sessions
of losses, as a bailout deal between Greece and its creditors
remained elusive.
The S&P 500 gained five points, or 0.3%, to 2108 and the
Nasdaq Composite added seven points, or 0.1%, to 5119.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 105 points, or 0.6%,
to 17996, boosted by Nike Inc. Shares of the athletic company rose
4.6%, contributing about 32 points to the Dow's overall
advance.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande on Friday, and
updated them on the new Greek economic proposals submitted to
creditors. Eurozone finance chiefs will meet Saturday in an attempt
to seal a Greek bailout agreement. Without a deal, Greece will
default on its June 30 payment to the International Monetary
Fund.
Amid a lack of major corporate news, negotiations between Greece
and its international creditors have driven U.S. markets recently.
The flow of company-specific news tends to slow in between earnings
seasons, leaving investors to focus on economic and political news.
The second-quarter reporting period unofficially kicks off on July
8 with Alcoa Inc.'s earnings release.
"Equities appear to be at the crossroads between near-term
uncertainty and longer-term attractiveness," said Terry Sandven,
chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which has
$127 billion under management. "The question remains: what will
drive earnings."
Investors are shifting their portfolios ahead of an expected
change in monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. The Fed is
widely expected to raise short-term interest rates later this year.
Those rates have been held near zero since December 2008.
"We're getting early portfolio adjustments as the quarter comes
to an end," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell
Global Capital. Utilities stocks in the S&P 500 have fallen the
most this week and have been leading declines for the year.
Investors snapped up utilities stocks in the past few years for
their high dividends, as they searched for yield in a low-rate
environment. Those stocks are likely to become less appealing as
interest rates rise.
"Investors are beginning to prepare for monetary change sometime
this year," Mr. Cardillo said.
On Thursday, the Dow industrials declined 0.4% to 17890.36 and
the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 2102.31. So far this week through
Thursday's close, the Dow has lost 0.7% and the S&P 500 has
slipped 0.4%. While both indexes have fallen slightly for the
month, they remain on track for quarterly gains.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 7.4% Friday to 4192.87 on
fears the Chinese government is seeking to curtail a yearlong
rally.
Germany's DAX gained 0.7%, while France's CAC-40 added 1.1%.
Greece's Athex Composite was up 1.1%.
In commodity markets, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1169.10 an
ounce. Crude-oil futures slipped 1.2% to $59.00 a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year note rose to 2.456% from 2.392% on
Thursday. Yields rise as prices fall.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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