What happened in the U.S markets in the last week?

On Friday (September 26, 2014), the U.S stock markets were up.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose by 0.99%, to 17,113.19; the S&P 500 (SPX) increased by 0.86%, to 1,982.85; the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) rose 1.02%, to 4,512.19.

However, they showed losses for the week due to the mixed U.S and global economic data and geopolitical worries. For the whole week, DJIA decreased by 166.59 points or 1%; S&P 500 decreased by 27.55 points or 1.4%; Nasdaq Composite fell by 67.60 points or 1.5%.

On the year-to-date basis, DJIA increased by 3.24%, S&P 500 rose by 7.28%, and Nasdaq Composite increased by 8.04%.

Last week, U.S. investors focused on the following developments;

  1. According to some news reports, Russia might seize Western assets in retaliation for sanctions. Also, some military operations in Syria against to ISIS put pressures on the markets.
  1. US second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) seasonally revised to 4.6% from 4.2%, thanks to increasing investments and exports.
  1. US new home sales rose by 18% in August reaching 504.000, which is much higher than the estimate of 430.000. Also, previous data revised up to 427.000 from 412.000.
  1. US existing home sales decreased by 1.8% in August, toyearly amount of 5.05 millions, which is lower than the average expectation of 5.18 millions. Also, previous data slightly revised down to 5.14 millions from 5.15 millions.
  1. US durable goods orders decreased by 18.2% in August. Expectation was 17.1% fall. However, core durable goods orders (excluding transportation) rose by 0.7%, following a decline of 0.5% in July. Analysts estimated a 0.8% increase for August.
  1. US weekly initial jobless claims rose by 12.000 to 293.000, which is lower than the estimate of 300.000. The four-week moving average fell 1,250 to 298,500.
  1. Germany’s manufacturing PMI dropped to 50.3, the lowest level since June 2013.
  1. The HSBC/Markit China PMI rose to 50.5 in September from a final reading of 50.2 in August.
  1. Japan’s annual core rate of consumer inflation slowed to 1.1% in August from 1.3% in July,