The Dow faltered but the U.S. economy charged ahead
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Streak shattered
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finally ran out of steam and closed the day in the red, ending its 13-day winning streak. Other major U.S. indexes had a losing day as well. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Friday. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 1.38%. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 briefly fell 2% after the Bank of Japan's meeting, but recovered in afternoon trading.
'Greater flexibility' for the BoJ
The Bank of Japan pledged to "conduct yield curve control with greater flexibility," even as the bank said it would keep 10-year Japan government bonds within a range of "plus and minus 0.5 percentage points." The BOJ also kept its short-term interest rate target at -0.1%. The Japanese yen rose to around 138.68 to the U.S. dollar, while yields for the 10-year JGB hit their highest level since September 2014.
What recession?
The U.S. economy's showing no signs of stopping. Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 2.4% rate in the second quarter, according to the Commerce Department. That's higher than the 2% estimate from Dow Jones and the first quarter's 2% growth. In other good news, the personal consumption price index rose 2.6% in the second quarter, down from 4.1% in the first.
Intel's unexpected profit
Intel returned to profit in the second quarter after two straight quarters of losses, even as revenue fell year-on-year around 15% to $12.9 billion. That's because its gross margin was nearly 40% on an adjusted basis. Intel's forecast for its third-quarter earnings was higher than analyst expectations. In sum, investors appeared pleased, pushing shares up more than 7% in extended trading.
[PRO] Better than tech stocks
Tech stocks may have driven most of the gains in the stock market, but there are funds that have performed better than them. CNBC Pro's Weizhen Tan combed Morningstar data and found 11 funds with five-year annualized returns higher than that of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Information Technology index.
Source: CNBC
