Midnight Trader | Jun 21, 2013 04:32PM ET
U.S. stocks ended higher Friday, snapping a two-day slide for equities. Shares of consumer staples and healthcare companies led the late rally, leading the markets back from a mid-day slump and keeping stocks from adding to what already had been the worst two-day slide for the global markets in 21 months.
Equities appeared set early to stem this week's steep declines that followed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday saying the U.S. central bank could begin to scale back its stimulus actions later this year if the U.S. economy continues to improve. Asian and European markets were mixed Friday, with any losses kept relatively in check compared to recent sessions. Fears that China's credit markets are seizing up dissipated following reports the People's Bank of China made money available to lenders. The one-day repo rate receded 3.84 percentage points to 7.9%, its biggest drop since 2007, while the seven-day rate fell 3.51 percentages points from the record high it set on Thursday.
Maintaining those initial gains proved difficult, howver, with the major indices for U.S. stocks all falling well in the red by mid-day before again reversing course and locking down moderate advances heading into the close. Technology stocks lagged the field throughout the session, also keeping the Nasdaq Composite index from participating in the late rally.
Friday was a quiet day for economic reports but it was a quadruple witching session -- the once-quarterly expiration of stock options, stock futures, and index option or futures contracts along with the individual stock futures options -- often resulting in increased volatility, especially in the final hour of trading.
Commodities were mixed. Crude oil for August delivery settled $1.45 lower at $93.69 per barrel while July natural gas was down 11 cents to $3.77 per 1 mln BTU. August gold rose $6.30 to $1292.20 per ounce while July silver added 13 cents to finish at $19.95 per ounce. July copper rose 4 cents to settle at $3.10 per pound.
Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End
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