Stocks stepped up on Monday despite West Texas Intermediate crude falling 0.7% to settle at $50.52 a barrel. Indices ended trading in the red zone on Tuesday on news that consumer sentiment dipped in October. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined 4.9 points to 98.6, a three-month low. Trading closed with mixed moves on Wednesday. The Dow ended in the green while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ shed some points. Moves were mixed on a variety of earnings releases. Meanwhile, crude oil fell to a three-week low level, with West Texas Intermediate crude slipping by 1.66%, settling at $49.13 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration data showed a decrease of 600,000 domestic barrels last week versus expectations of a 400,000 increase. Looking elsewhere, new home sales ticked up in September, as Commerce Department figures showed sales climbed 3.1% last month to an annual rate of 593,000. On Thursday, stocks swung between gains and losses throughout the day. The markets also saw a selloff in government bonds, which kept investors on edge. In economic news, new orders for durable goods fell in September led by a sizeable drop in defense orders. Indices closed again in red territory on Friday with stocks retreating from early session highs on a variety of economic news. Crude oil traded lower on mixed quarterly details from large oil companies. Commerce Department data showed the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the third quarter, which marked the fastest gross domestic product growth in two years. Elsewhere, a second measure of consumer confidence dipped in October. In a final reading, the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment report hit 87.2, down from 91.2 in September.
