The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Friday as investors returned to buying equities in force following a short-lived market stumble to start the new year.
The broad market index rose 1.23% to settle at 4,839.81, surpassing both the prior record intraday and closing highs from January 2022. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which set its own record at the end of last year, added 395.19 points, or 1.05%, to end at 37,863.80. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.70% to 15,310.97. The smaller, more tech-focused Nasdaq-100 gained 1.95% to also hit a record high.
All three major averages are now in positive territory for 2024, with the 30-stock Dow going green during Friday's rally.
Following a 19% loss in 2022, the S&P 500 roared back in 2023, posting a 24% gain as the economy skirted a recession that many had expected and inflation came down to levels that allowed the Federal Reserve to pause its interest rate hikes. The benchmark came close to reaching a record following a forceful fourth-quarter rally, but ultimately fell short. The market rally paused a bit to start 2024 as investors took some profits in the Big Tech leaders like Apple.
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But they returned to buying those tech leaders in recent days. Friday's milestone confirms that the stock market is officially in a bull market that began in October 2022, and not just a bounce within a bear market. The S&P 500 is up more than 35% since that low.
"In the mind of the investor, [companies] leading in AI or having a product set that's differentiated in the tech space are very, very strongly leading the market. That's been a wave that's persisted throughout the remainder of last year and into 2024," said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.
Money Report
The tech sector gained 2.35% on Friday and more than 4% during the trading week, making it the S&P 500's best-performing sector week to date.
Whether the broader market index can maintain its growth momentum in 2024 "is going to be a question of whether the Fed is able to stick a soft landing or not," said Stucky. He noted that the driver of the S&P 500's growth in 2023 was tied to multiples, rather than earnings.
"Multiples rise coming out of economic slowdowns, because investors are pricing in a recovery. If that recovery doesn't materialize, then you do have to question the sustainability of not only holding on to new highs, but making new highs beyond that," Stucky added.
Fresh consumer data on Friday indicated that consumers are becoming more confident on the economy and inflation. The University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers showed a 21.4% year-over-year jump to reach its highest level since July 2021.
Insurance company Travelers rose 6.7% after posting an earnings beat. Schlumberger gained 2.2% after beating on top and bottom lines, and Ally Financial surged over 10% after reporting strong quarterly results and a sale of a business unit to Synchrony Financial.
Stocks close higher Friday
U.S. stocks ended Friday's trading session in the green.
The S&P 500 gained 1.23% to 4,839.81, breaking its previous record close from Jan. 2022.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose around 395 points, or 1.05%, to close at 37,863.80. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.70% to end the trading session at 15,310.97.
— Hakyung Kim
Bitcoin rides the stock market rally but still heads for a losing week
Bitcoin and ether rose with the stock market to end the week after the S&P 500 jumped to a new all-time high.
The price of bitcoin was up 2% at $41,763.87, after falling back to the key support level of $40,000 Thursday. Ether was 2% higher and trading at $2,491.82.
"Positive consumer sentiment and slowing inflation helped fuel the rally in risk-on assets," said Ryan Rasmussen, analyst at Bitwise Asset Management. "Investors generally view crypto investments as similar to tech and risk-on investments, so crypto riding this rally makes sense."
Bitcoin is still on pace to post a 4% loss for a week. It's fallen 10% since Jan. 10, when bitcoin ETFs were greenlit to begin trading in the U.S. The ETF approvals were widely expected to be a sell-the-news event. Ether is on pace to finish the week lower by 3%.
The move in crypto assets wasn't enough to pull up equities, however. Coinbase, Microstrategy and several mining stocks – including CleanSpark, Iris Energy and Riot Platforms – were flat. Marathon Digital rose about 1%.
— Tanaya Macheel
These are the top ETF's since S&P 500's last record
The S&P 500 is poised to close at its first new high since Jan. 3, 2022. In the meantime, many narrowly focused funds have seen big gains.
The non-leveraged equity ETFs that have performed the best since the S&P 500's last record high is a mix of international funds and energy plays, according to FactSet.
The iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR) is up nearly 80% over that period. The Invesco Oil & Gas Services ETF (PXJ) has jumped more than 68%, while the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT) is up over 64%.
The Turkey-focused fund is still doing well, as it has outperformed the S&P 500 so far in 2024. However, PXJ and ARGT are down so far this year.
— Jesse Pound
Oil books weekly gain on Mideast tensions
Oil prices edged slightly lower on Friday but booked a weekly gain on tensions in the Middle East.
The West Texas Intermediate contract for February fell 67 cents, or .9%, to settle at $73.41 a barrel. The Brent contract for March shed 54 cents, or .68%, to settle at $78.56 a barrel.
U.S. crude booked a one week gain of 1% as investors keep a close eye on whether attacks by militants in the Red Sea could lead to a supply disruption. The global bench mark was up .47% for the week.
— Spencer Kimball
Friday's the 13th trading day of 2024, and Nvidia has already soared almost 20%
"Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear..." For investors too young to remember the 1990s dot com bubble, maybe this is what parabolic feels like.
Friday marks the 13th trading day of 2024 and so far in the young year AI-technology darling Nvidia has soared almost 20%. This week alone, Nvidia is higher by almost 8% (beaten out by Taiwan Semi up almost 14% this week and Advanced Micro Devices, ahead almost 11%.)
At today's record high of $591.99, Nvidia was 19.5% ahead of where it closed out 2023 — when it soared 239%.
The average Wall Street price target on NVDA is $672, according to FactSet, or 14% above Friday's level. Those targets range from a low of $410 at DA Davidson to a high of $1600 at Elazar Advisors.
— Scott Schnipper
Global electric vehicle demand is slowing by the day, Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas says
The global outlook for electric vehicle demand is continuing to show signs of weakness while a move away from internal combustion engines at a slower pace, according to Morgan Stanley head of auto and space research Adam Jonas.
A combination of recent headlines including Hertz selling a large portion of its EV fleet while legacy automakers slow down the pace of production are drivers behind the slowing transition, Jonas wrote in a Friday note.
"Each day brings more signs of global EV demand slowing," Jonas said. He added that the potential re-election of former President Donald Trump also remains a headwind to the EV transition and the Inflation Reduction Act, which would put incentives at risk and further slow the consumer move.
"In any event, we think the ICE will melt slower," he added.
— Brian Evans
S&P 500’s tech sector is on track for a record close
The tech sector of the S&P 500 is now on pace for a record close, just as the broad market index hit a fresh intraday high record.
The tech sector jumped 1.7%, and if it closes above the 3,483.46 level, it will end the day at a record high dating back to its inception in 1989.
Chip stocks pushed the sector up on Friday, with Qualcomm, Broadcom and Texas instruments jumping more than 4% each.
The communications services sector is also on the precipice of multi-year high dating back to February 2022. Leaders in that industry include AT&T, up more than 2%. Big Tech juggernauts Meta Platforms and Alphabet are also up more than 1% each.
-Darla Mercado, Gina Francolla
Jefferies sees more than 26% upside for this medtech stock
Inspire Medical Systems was among the medtech stocks that sold off last fall as investors bet anti-obesity medications would wreck their markets. But those stocks have been coming back, and Inspire has been benefiting. Shares are up more than 36% from a 52-week low set in mid-November.
Jefferies sees more than 26% upside ahead, based on Thursday's closing pricing. The firm initiated the stock at a buy with a price target of $245. The company sells a device that stimulates the hypoglossal nerve to help treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea.
Analyst Michael Sarcone sees multiple expansion ahead has the company continues to perform and build awareness of its device, and fears about the impact of Ozempic and other GLP-1 medications recede. Inspire shares are up more than 2% in trading Friday.
—Christina Cheddar Berk
S&P 500 could snap sixth longest streak without closing high since 1952
The S&P 500 is tracking to end Friday at a record closing high, breaking its sixth longest period without one.
There have been 512 trading days without a new high at session close, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group. There have been just five longer periods without one going back to 1952, data from the firm shows.
— Alex Harring
S&P 500 hits intraday record for the first time in 2 years
The S&P 500 reached an intraday all-time high for the first time in two years, breaking above 4,818.62 — a record set in January 2022.
— Fred Imbert
Here are the companies leading the Nasdaq-100 to new heights this week
The Nasdaq-100 touched new highs this week as technology stocks rallied and semiconductor's pushed to new heights, with the index up 1.8% week to date.
Advanced Micro Devices is on pace for the biggest weekly gains in the concentrated index. The chipmaker's surged more than 14% to a new all-time high following bullish AI commentary and strong earnings coming out of supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.
Positive semiconductor news and the overall rise in the sector's boosted Nvidia, KLA Corporation and Qualcomm about 7% each, while Applied Materials jumped nearly 9%. ASML Holding, Marvell Technology and Broadcom gained at least 5% each.
Fastenal was also among the biggest gainers in the index, surging more than 8%. Datadog rallied 4%, while PayPal gained 5.6%.
— Samantha Subin
Bullish sentiment among retail investors sank in latest week while staying above historical average
Optimism over the outlook for stock prices in the next six months among retail investors tumbled 8.2 points to 40.4% in the latest weekly survey by the the American Association of Individual Investors, down from 48.6% in each of the prior two weeks.
Still, that remained above the historic average of 37.5% for an 11th straight week.
Bearish opinion widened to 26.8% from 24.2%, below the historic average of 31.0% also for an 11th week. Neutral sentiment jumped to 32.9% from 27.2%, the first time it's risen above the historic average of 31.5% in seven weeks.
Investors answered the following to a special question this week asking which parts of the fixed income market they were overweighting in their portfolios:
- Money market funds: 36.8%
- U.S. Treasurys: 21.2%
- Investment-grade corporate bonds: 9.3%
- High-yield corporate bonds: 5.2%
- Other/not sure: 26.4%
— Scott Schnipper
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Wayfair, iRobot and more
There are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:
- Wayfair — Shares of the digital home goods retailer surged 10% after the company said it will lay off 13% of its global workforce, including 19% of its corporate team, in an effort to cut out layers of management and reduce costs.
- iRobot — Shares of the Roomba maker continued their recent slide with a drop of nearly 30% on Friday as investors worried that the proposed acquisition of iRobot by Amazon would fall apart.
- Celsius Holdings — Shares of the drink company slid more than 10% following a downgrade to neutral from buy at Bank of America.
Read the full list of stocks moving here.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Full-year home sales fell to lowest number since 1995
Home sales fell 1% month-over-month to 3.78 million units in December, rounding out 2023 as the lowest year for home sales since 1995, per data from the National Association of Realtors.
Full-year sales for 2023 came in at 4.09 million units.
This comes on the back of strong consumer sentiment data released Friday, indicating conflicting signals on the broader economic landscape.
— Hakyung Kim
Consumer sentiment levels jump to highest level since July 2021
The University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers released on Friday indicated that consumers are growing increasingly confident on the economy and falling inflation.
The survey showed a reading of 78.8 for January, its highest level since July 2021 and up 21.4% from a year ago. That followed a big jump in December and comes despite public opinion surveys showing concern about the nation's direction.
On a two-month basis, sentiment showed its largest increase since 1991, said Joanne Hsu, the survey's director.
More on the survey results can be found here.
— Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox
Mega-tech stocks could see some downsides, says BTIG
Large-cap tech companies have powered the market's growth in the last few days; however, BTIG believes the market could see a "shakeout" soon.
""It feels like Groundhog Day as mega-cap tech continues to dominate, while much of the rest of the market gets distributed," chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky wrote in a Friday note. "As we get through options expiration today and into the heart of earnings season next week, we think it's more likely that mega-tech sees some downside, even though it seems invincible today."
Krinsky added that the market is at a point where mega-tech shares "fade," or overlooked areas, such as small-caps and "non-profitable tech," bounce back.
"If this is simply a shakeout then we should expect breadth to begin to improve meaningfully next week, which would coincide with some outperformance of small-caps, non-profitable tech, equal-weight over cap-weight, etc. Either way we should expect some convergence of the recent outsized moves," said Krinsky.
— Hakyung Kim
Strong retail sales data was 'more noise than news,' Bank of America says
Stronger-than-expected retail sales data this week will have little influence on when the Federal Reserve can begin cutting interest rates, according to Bank of America.
"The bottom line for us? Outsized gains in December retail sales were more noise than news," BofA chief U.S. economist wrote on Friday. "Consumer spending may be healthy, but it's not surging or slumping, and we don't think the report says much about the Fed's ability to cut rates beginning in March as we expect."
— Brian Evans
Sports betting ETF heads for best week since November
The Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF's gained more than 4% since week, putting it on pace for its best week since November.
The biggest gainers in the fund include Rush Street Interactive, DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment, all up at least 10% on the week.
— Samantha Subin, Gina Francolla
Stocks and bonds have 'room to rally' this year, UBS says
Stocks and bonds have "room to rally" even after a tepid start to the year, according to UBS.
"We think there is more potential for gains for both equity and bond markets," read a Friday note titled "Equities and bonds have room to rally further in 2024" from the firm's Solita Marcelli. "Our base case scenario is for a US soft landing. Lower interest rates, positive (albeit slowing) economic growth, and growing corporate earnings should support modest further upside for equities."
"We also think long-term bond yields have room to fall further, given long-term real rates are still higher than the Fed's estimate of the real neutral rate, in our view," Marcelli added.
Stocks could also have further to go after clearing some key resistance levels. As of Thursday, the S&P 500 closed at 4,780.94, just shy of its record closing level of 4796.56.
The 10-year Treasury yield was last above 4.15%.
— Sarah Min
Goolsbee says markets should listen to the data, not Fed officials
Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said Friday that markets should pay more attention to what the data is saying than what comes from central bank officials.
"When the market is hinging on the words of Fed officials, I really think that's a mistake in direction," he said during an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box. "What they should be hinging on are these inflation numbers and the jobs numbers."
While both those metrics are heading towards what Goolsbee has labeled the "golden path," he said the "main thing in the short and medium term that we need to see more progress on is housing inflation."
However, Goolsbee, an alternate, nonvoting member this year on the Federal Open Market Committee, provided no guidance on when or if he thinks the Fed should start cutting rates.
"It's not about secret meetings or decisions. It's fundamentally about the data and what will enable us to become less restrictive is if we have clear evidence that we're on path," he said.
—Jeff Cox
Stocks open higher Friday
U.S. stocks opened higher across the board Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 123 points, or 0.3%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
— Hakyung Kim
Gold, mining stocks climb on Friday morning
The price of gold was moving higher on Friday morning, looking to erase its losses for the week.
Gold futures rose 0.92% to $2040.20 and are now down less than 0.6% for the week.
The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) rose 1% in premarket trading and was on track for its second-straight positive session, but is still down about 6% for the week.
— Jesse Pound, Gina Francolla
Companies making biggest moves premarket
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
- Wayfair — Shares of the digital home goods retailer surged nearly 12% premarket after the company said it will lay off 13% of its global workforce, including 19% of its corporate team, in an effort to cut out layers of management and reduce costs. This is Wayfair's third restructuring since 2022 and is expected to save the company about $280 million.
- Hertz — Hertz's stock price shed 2.8% on a Jefferies price target cut and downgrade to hold from buy. The firm said that electric vehicle repair issues and depreciation expenses will limit the company's near-term profitability, even as Hertz plans to sell roughly a third of its EV fleet and instead reinvest in gas vehicles.
- Spirit Airlines — The stock popped nearly 18% after the budget airline said it expects revenue for the fourth quarter to come in on the high end of its earlier forecasts thanks to strong bookings. Spirit also estimated operating expectations will come in better than expected. Shares tumbled 62% week to date after a judge blocked its merger with JetBlue airways.
For the full list, read here.
— Pia Singh
Meta spending billions on Nvidia AI chips
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated Thursday that the company is spending billions on Nvidia's semiconductors to power the company's artificial intelligence ambitions. Zuckerberg didn't say how many chips it has already purchased, but noted the company's AI infrastructure will include 350,000 H100 graphics cards from Nvidia. by year-end.
Shares of both Nvidia and Meta were up more than 1% in the premarket.
— Fred Imbert
Morgan Stanley does not expect BOJ to end negative interest rates in January meeting
Morgan Stanley says it does not see the Bank of Japan exiting its negative interest rate regime at the central bank's policy meeting next week.
"As for the January monetary policy meeting, I think that removal [of negative interest rates] is currently off the table because of the earthquake," Morgan Stanley's chief Japan economist, Takeshi Yamaguchi told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia."
"This year's wage negotiations will be pretty strong. Last year, the headline increase was around 3.6% 3.7% but [this year] we are expecting close to 4%, in terms of the headline wage increase," Yamaguchi said, adding he believes that will be key for the BOJ to end its negative interest rate policy.
The BOJ is set to release its monetary policy decision on Tuesday, with markets widely expecting the central bank to stick with its current stance.
Data on Friday also showed Japan's headline inflation rate fell to 2.6% in December, hitting its lowest level since June 2022. It also cooled from 2.8% in November.
— Shreyashi Sanyal
Asia's chipmakers surge as TSMC forecasts strong growth in 2024
Chip stocks in Asia surged Friday following Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's upbeat annual forecast a day earlier on the back of AI-related demand.
TSMC's shares rose 4.42%, while South Korea's memory chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix gained 3.21% and 2.42%, respectively.
TSMC forecast 2024 will be "a healthy growth year" due to demand for 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer technologies as well as the AI boom. This comes after a challenging year for chipmakers amid adverse global macroeconomic conditions and an inventory adjustment cycle.
"TSMC is perfectly positioned to benefit from [AI]. There's an insatiable appetite for low-power, high-performing chips that are going to be able to enable AI on devices," said Daniel Newman, principal analyst at Futurum Research, on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."
– Sheila Chiang
Japan inflation cools to 2.6% in December, core inflation holds steady
Japan's headline inflation rate fell to 2.6% in December, down from 2.8% in November and hitting its lowest level since June 2022.
Japan's core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — also fell to 2.3% from November's figure of 2.5%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.
The so called "core-core" inflation rate, which strips out prices of fresh food and energy and is closely watched by the Bank of Japan, came in at 3.7%, slightly lower than the 3.8% seen in November.
— Lim Hui Jie
Congress passes latest stopgap bill to prevent a partial government shutdown
On Thursday, Congress passed a stopgap bill to avert a partial government shutdown this weekend and keep the federal government funded through March 1 and March 8.
The measure passed 77-18 in the U.S. Senate, followed by a vote of 314-108 in the House of Representatives. The bill has now been sent to President Joe Biden to become law.
This is the third such stopgap bill to be passed since last September, while lawmakers work on forming a full-year government funding bill.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Only two sectors set to end the week with gains
Out of the 11 sectors, only two are currently set for week-to-date gains: information technology and communication services.
Technology stocks were the best performer, with the sector up 1.92% for the week. Communication services stocks are set to add 0.31%.
Utilities stocks were the worst performers, with the sector down 3.58% this week. Energy and real estate are also respectively down 3.43% and 3.07% thus far.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Stocks making the biggest moves after hours
These are the stocks moving the most in extended trading hours:
- iRobot — The Roomba manufacturer tumbled more than 30%. The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday that the European Union's antitrust watchdog anticipates blocking Amazon's acquisition of iRobot.
- Super Micro Computer — Shares of the information technology firm gained 6% after Super Micro Computer reported preliminary second-quarter adjusted earnings of between $5.40 and $5.55 per share, higher than its previous guidance of between $4.40 to $4.88 per share.
- Wendy's Company — The fast-food restaurant jumped 1% in after-hours trading after the company named PepsiCo executive Kirk Tanner its new CEO.
Read the full list of stocks moving here.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Stock futures open little changed
Stock futures opened little changed on Thursday night.
Dow futures inched higher by 10 points, or 0.03%. S&P 500 slid 0.03%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.01%.
— Lisa Kailai Han