Dow Jones advances moderately in a cautious market mood

• Dow Jones gains while NASDAQ, S&P 500 slide.
• Geopolitical concerns have eased, but investors remain wary of risk.
• Dow Jones trend needs to break resistances at 38,105 and 38,531 to cancel the bearish bias.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is trading moderately higher on Friday with Wall Street indexes mixed on looming geopolitical concerns. 

News from an Israeli attack on Iran has boosted risk aversion although the Islamic Republic has downplayed the incident and showed no intention to retaliate.

The US economic calendar is light today. Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee reiterated the lack of progress on inflation but showed confidence that core inflation will return to the 2% level. US yields are pulling back, but uninspiring earnings reports have left markets in no man's land.

The Dow Jones is outperforming with a 0.4% advance to 37,941, while the S&P 500 drops 0.3 % to 4,994 and the NASDAQ dives 1% to 15,439.

Dow Jones news

A majority of the Wall Street sectors are posting gains with Energy stocks leading gains thanks to a 1.2% advance, followed by Utilities, up 1.2%. On the negative side, Communication Services drops 1.6%,  and Technology is down 1.4%.

American Express (UNH) rose 3.1% to $493.51 and is the best performer for the second day in a row, fuelled by the strong quarterly earnings results. Next is United Health Group (UNH) with a 2.1% gain to $503.76. On the losing end, Amazon (AMZN) drops 2.1% to $175.47, and Intel (INTC) loses 1.6% to $34.45.

Dow Jones technical outlook

The DJIA is trimming some losses on Friday, although the broader bearish trend from March highs near 40,000 remains intact. The resistance area at 38,103 should be breached to ease downside pressure and clear the path toward 38,530.

On the downside, the support level at 37,087 is the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the November-March rally and a previous support area. This might be a tough nut to crack for sellers. Below here, the target is 36,545. 
 

Dow Jones Index 4-Hour Chart