NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street emerged Friday from the turmoil of the holiday season.
The S&P 500 rose 1.3%, its first gain since Christmas and its best day in nearly two months. The strength of big tech stocks contributed to the breakthrough in stock prices 5 consecutive days of losing streakIt was the longest decline since April, and the decline narrowed to 0.5% this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 339 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.8%.
Nvidia was the strongest force pushing the market higher after surging 4.5%. Other companies caught up in the frenzy over artificial intelligence technology also rose despite criticism that their stock prices were already too high. Super Micro Computer, which sells servers for AI, rose 10.9%, and Palantir Technologies rose 6.3%.
“While the low-hanging fruit of AI may be behind us, it looks like this bull market is far from over,” said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer for the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Tesla, another influential Big Tech stock, rose 8.2%, rebounding from a 6.1% decline the previous day. Electric vehicle deliveries decline The last three months of 2024 beat analysts’ expectations.
Rival Rivian, which said it delivered more than 14,000 vehicles in the latest quarter, jumped 24.5%. This exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Wall Street’s loser was U.S. Steel, which has since fallen 6.5%. President Joe Biden blocks nearly $15 billion in deals Japan’s Nippon Steel has proposed buying a Pittsburgh-based rival.
Beer, wine and liquor companies sunk after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned of a direct link between beer and wine. Alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. He called for updates to health warning labels on alcoholic beverages and a reassessment of guidelines on drinking to account for cancer risks.
Molson Coors Beverage fell 3.4%. Jack Daniel’s distiller Brown-Forman fell 2.5%.
Overall, the S&P 500 rose 73.92 points to 5,942.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose $339.86 to $42,732.13, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose $340.88 to $19,621.68.
The post-Christmas Wall Street pullback has dimmed just a little bit of the shine after two stellar years for U.S. stock indexes. They broke records after the U.S. economy managed to keep growing despite high interest rates, which have pushed inflation down to near the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. .
But while the economy and job market still look strong at the moment, the path forward is far from guaranteed. One of the reasons the S&P 500 index hit record highs of more than 50 last year was due to expectations that the Fed would continue to cut interest rates through 2025 after starting to ease in September.
The trader is currently gradually restore their expectations For future interest rate cuts. Inflation has proven to be stubborn The Fed is trying to squeeze out the last points of improvement to bring inflation down to 2%. There are also growing concerns about the consequences of tariffs and other policies. President-elect Donald Trump I was able to put upward pressure on inflation. Meanwhile, critics argue that U.S. stock prices are rising far faster than corporate profits, making them look expensive.
President Trump’s tariff threats are also hurting overseas stock markets. For China, it adds to concerns that the world’s second-largest economy is already grappling with a weak real estate market and other challenges.
Shares fell 1.6% in Shanghai, bringing the week’s loss to 5.6%, while in Hong Kong they rose 0.7%, narrowing the weekly loss to 1.6%. European stock indexes also fell.
Korean The Kospi index rose 1.8% after Acting President and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok pledged to do more to stabilize the economy. The country is in the midst of a political crisis, with two heads of state impeached in less than a month.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields rose after a better-than-expected report on U.S. manufacturing.
The manufacturing recession lasted another month, the 25th of the past 26 months, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management. However, it was not as severe as economists had expected. Manufacturing is one of the sectors of the economy hardest hit by high interest rates in recent years.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose to 4.59% from 4.56% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more accurately reflects expectations for Fed action, also rose, rising to 4.28% from 4.25% late Thursday.
