Wall Street Heading Towards the end of the First Quarter

Steven Petrov
The Paw Print

The US stocks finished the last trading session for last week with minimal increases after the investors began preparing for the end of the first quarter for 2014 on Monday, March 31st, announced CNBC.
The last couple of days in a quarter are always time when people want to realize some profits, which in turn leads to higher volatility in the market. In the end of last Friday’s trading session, the Dow Jones increased by 0.36%, reaching the 16,323 area. Some of the other companies that experienced growth in the last hours on Friday were Microsoft (+2.39%), Exxon Mobil (+1.52%), and Cisco Systems (+1.41%).
These results were highly influenced by the positive reports for the increase in the US consumer expenditures, for a third month in a row. The US consumers and investors have been progressively recovering from the problems that the extremely cold weather brought in the beginning months of the year.
The “Tesla Motors” stocks also saw improvements during the last Friday’s trading session, after the safety regulator announced that the ignition testing of the Model S have been successful and that no defects were found.
However the agency warns that even though no safety defects were found, the probability of some existing is still there. Another automobile company, General Motors, also increased its market valuation, after the announcement that GM will stop producing the Chevy Cruze model. The manufacturer did not give any detailed explanations on the reasons for that decision.
Intel, McDonalds’s, and Boeing Co all fell in the group of the companies who saw a positive increase on Friday with 1.22%, 1.12%, and 1.01% respectively. On the other hand some of the “losers” on Friday were Facebook, Apple, Amgen, Amazon, Baidu etc. which all closed at a lower price than their Friday’s opening prices.
The first quarter of 2014 marked some major political and weather conditions, which unquestionably affected the stock, commodities, and currency markets.
The investors had the chance to see high volatility throughout the last three months, which in turn is exactly what investors want to see, because only when there is volatility are there higher returns.