On Friday, United States stocks finished with mixed results, with the benchmark S&P 500 index reaching an all-time high of 5,000 at closing time. The rise was driven by strong earnings reports and positive economic news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 54.64 points, or 0.14 percent, to 38,671.69. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 increased by 28.70 points, or 0.57 percent, to 5,026.61, marking a new record. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed near its record high with a 1.25 percent increase to 15,990.66, the highest in over two years.
Out of the 11 main sectors of the S&P 500, eight ended in positive territory. The technology and consumer discretionary sectors were the top gainers with increases of 1.50 percent and 0.99 percent, respectively. On the other hand, energy and consumer staples were the worst-performing sectors, with declines of 1.56 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively.
The positive mood in the market was influenced by a downward revision in the December consumer price index (CPI), with the initial 0.3 percent rise reduced to 0.2 percent. The core inflation figures, which exclude food and energy, remained unchanged according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Treasury yields briefly decreased after the revised data was released. The CPI figures for January are set to be released next week.
Dana D’Auria, co-chief investment officer at Envestnet, remarked, “At the end of the day, we’re still seeing whopping good news on an economic front, and the market is reacting to that. The longer that story plays out, the more likely it seems to the market that we actually are sticking a landing here.”
67 percent of S&P 500 companies have released their fourth-quarter earnings reports, following a busy period of corporate disclosures over the past few weeks. Large-cap technology stocks contributed to the S&P’s climb over 5,000, with Nvidia and Alphabet experiencing gains of over 2 percent each. Cloudflare saw a remarkable 19.50 percent surge due to strong earnings, lifting the broader cloud sector as a result.
In the afternoon, Microsoft surpassed Apple’s record-high market capitalization of 3.09 trillion dollars, becoming the world’s biggest company by market capitalization.
