U.S. Stocks See Further Upside, Reaching New Record Highs

Extending the substantial rally seen over the past few sessions, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday. With the continued upward move, the major averages all reached new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained in positive territory. The Dow climbed 259.65 points or 0.6 percent to 43,988.99, the Nasdaq inched up 17.32 points or 0.1 percent to 19,286.78 and the S&P 500 rose 22.44 points or 0.4 percent to 5,995.54.

For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared by 5.7 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow spiked by 4.7 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.

Stocks continued to benefit from a positive reaction to former President Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump’s return to the White House is expected to be positive for corporations and the U.S. economy, although there are some concerns about the effect planned tariff increases will have on inflation.

Traders also continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s widely expected decision on Thursday to lower interest rates by a quarter point.

After aggressively slashing interest rates by half a percentage point in September, the Fed said it has decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 4.50 to 4.75 percent.

However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed during his post-meeting press conference that rates are not on “any preset course” and said the central bank will make future decisions “meeting by meeting.”

In U.S. economic news, preliminary data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment has improved by more than expected in the month of November.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index climbed to 73.0 in November from 70.5 in October. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 71.0.

With the bigger than expected increase, the consumer sentiment index reached its highest level since hitting 77.2 in April.

On the inflation front, the report said year-ahead inflation expectations slipped to 2.6 percent in November from 2.7 percent in October, hitting the lowest level since December 2020.

Long-run inflation expectations, on the other hand, inched up to 3.1 percent in November from 3.0 percent in October, remaining modestly elevated relative to the range of readings seen in the two years pre-pandemic.

Sector News

Interest rate-sensitive stocks saw considerable strength on the day, as treasury yields extend the notable pullback seen in the previous session.

With the yield on the benchmark ten-year note pulling back further off the four-month closing high set on Wednesday, utilities, commercial real estate and telecom stocks all move notably higher.

On the other hand, steel stocks showed a significant move to the downside, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index falling by 1.6 percent after ending Thursday’s trading at a seven-month closing high.

Oil service and gold stocks also saw some weakness, moving lower along with the price of their associated commodities.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in yet another mixed performance on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.2percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both slide by 0.8 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries extended the notable rebound seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.5 basis points to 4.306 percent.

Looking Ahead

Next week’s trading may be impacted by reaction to the latest U.S. economic news, including reports on consumer and producer prices, retail sales and industrial production.