S&P 500 on track for eighth-straight winning week

The S&P 500 increased on Friday in response to lower inflation figures, and Wall Street was hoping to continue its year-end rally as the major averages were headed for their eighth consecutive winning week.

The Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.16%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 10 points, or 0.03%. S&P 500 increased by 0.11%. At present, the overall index is 0.8% away from its closing record and over 1% away from its intraday record.

Nike, a company that is a part of the Dow, fell 12% after decreasing its sales forecast and announcing intentions to reduce expenses by around $2 billion over the following three years. As anticipated, the core personal consumption expenditures price index for November increased by just 0.1% from the previous month and by 3.2% from the previous year.

According to a Dow Jones survey, economists projected a monthly growth of 3.3% and 0.1% from the previous year. Today’s PCE data further solidified the lower slope of inflation, which is another reason behind investors’ enthusiasm today that a soft landing appears more likely.

The three main averages are headed for their eighth straight week of gains, which would be a first for the Dow since 2019 and the S&P 500 since 2017. The Dow has gained 0.4% this week, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.9%. Over 1% of the Nasdaq has increased during this time.

Recently, as bond yields have decreased and traders have increased their bets on central bank rate cuts, the market rally has spread. The small-cap Russell 2000 increased by more than 1% on Friday, putting it on track for a sixth consecutive week of gains. This demonstrates the scope and intensity of this Christmas surge, which we believe will be positive for investors in 2024.

ARK Innovation has increased by 33% in the fourth quarter, while the percentages for Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Nvidia, 8%, and Tesla are 19%, 21%, 18%, and 13%, respectively.

Soon after the last hour of trading began, stocks had recovered from a sharp decline in the previous hour. Both the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had decreases of 0.05% and 72 points, respectively.

Following the announcement by Bristol Myers Squibb that it will acquire Karuna Therapeutics, a biotech startup, for $14 billion, biotech stocks saw an increase on Friday. During lunchtime trade, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) increased by 2.7%. Although the final few days of the year are unpredictable, today’s move is positive since it is extremely near to breaking out of a multi-year base over 4400.