The markets began the week on a down note as Healthcare stocks traded lower despite the step up by Financial stocks. West Texas Intermediate crude oil settled at $40.36 a barrel, which led to Energy stocks ramping up on Tuesday alongside a continued upswing in crude oil. Indices closed in positive territory on Wednesday on a variety of economic news. The Producer Price Index slipped 0.1% in March, while core goods prices rose 0.1% for the second straight month. Retail sales dipped 0.3% in March. Discounting cars, sales jumped 0.2%. Additionally, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which covered economic activity from mid-February through March, showed a modest to moderate rate of expansion in the majority of districts. Indices closed slightly mixed on Thursday. The Dow and S&P 500 added fractional gains, while the NASDAQ ended the session marginally in the red. Bank stocks in the Financials sector led advancers while Technology stocks retreated. Indices closed Friday’s session in red territory with stocks this time retreating on a variety of economic news. West Texas Intermediate crude lost its weekly gains to settle at $40.36 a barrel, where it began the week. In a preliminary measure, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey showed a 1.3 point dip to 89.7 for April, versus expectations of an uptick to 91.8.
