All three major indexes posted weekly gains, as investors took comfort from data pointing to robust economic activity in the world's biggest economy.
Wall Street closed higher on Friday, with all three major indexes posting weekly gains, as investors took comfort from data pointing to robust economic activity in the world's biggest economy.
A measure of business activity raced to a 31-month high in November, boosted by hopes for lower interest rates and more business-friendly policies from President-elect Donald Trump's administration next year.
The domestically focused small-cap Russell 2000 index (.RUT) outperformed large-cap indexes and rose 1.8%. The index advanced 4.3% for the week, closing at its highest in more than a week.
Meanwhile, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) fell 1.7% following Thursday's 4% drop, as the U.S. Department of Justice argued to a judge the company was monopolizing online search.
AI bellwether Nvidia (NVDA.O) also slipped 3.2% in choppy trading following its quarterly forecast on Wednesday.
An index tracking S&P 500 value stocks (.IVX) rose 0.78% as investors rotated out of their growth peers (.IGX).
"I’ve been looking for this leadership change to go from technology to everything else. I think we may be in the midst of that shift. Small caps are acting much better, values are acting better," said Mark Hackett, Chief of Investment Research at Nationwide.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 426.16 points, or 0.97%, to 44,296.51, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 20.63 points, or 0.35%, to 5,969.34 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 31.23 points, or 0.16%, to 19,003.65.
Industrial (.SPLRCI) stocks led the S&P, rising 1.36%, while consumer discretionary (.SPLRCL) was the biggest sectoral decliner, falling 0.69%.
For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.68%, the Nasdaq rose 1.73%, and the Dow climbed 1.96%.
Expectations on the Federal Reserve's policy move in December have recently swayed between a pause and a cut, as investors weighed the likely impact of Trump's plans on price pressures.
There is a 59.6% probability the central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points, as per the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
Geopolitics were top of mind this week as investors monitored a missile exchange between Ukraine and Russia, after Moscow lowered its threshold for a nuclear retaliation. The markets are also awaiting Trump's Treasury Secretary pick.
"The fact that we’ve been calm on a nice, steady stair step pattern higher is very encouraging and reflective of the fact that investors aren’t acting with the emotion that they could be given the amount of uncertainties we’ve faced," Hackett said.
In company news, Gap Inc (GAP.N) jumped 12.8% after the Old Navy parent raised its annual sales forecast and said the holiday season was off to a "strong start".
Intuit (INTU.O) fell 5.7% after the TurboTax parent projected second-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates on Thursday (22 November).
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 532 new highs and 41 new lows.
On the Nasdaq, 3,076 stocks rose and 1,271 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.42-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 83 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 179 new highs and 85 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.49 billion shares, compared with the 14.65 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
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U.S. stock markets ended higher on Friday, following largely in-line inflation figures, although indices recorded losses over the week.
The New York Stock Exchange opened sharply lower on 2 September as investors weighed the legality of Donald Trump’s tariffs – a federal appeals court has ruled most of them illegal.
U.S. markets closed mostly flat Friday, capping a third winning week out of four.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would love for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign but acknowledged that many have said it would disrupt the markets if the president were to remove him. Trump made the comments in an interview with the Real America's Voice network aired on Wednesday.
For nearly three decades following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the international system was defined by a singular, overwhelming reality: American unipolarity.
Chinese scientists have unveiled a new gene-editing therapy that they say could lead to a functional cure for HIV, making it one of the most promising developments in decades of global research.
Faced with mounting public outrage following one of the deadliest environmental disasters in the nation’s recent history, the Indonesian government has pledged to investigate and potentially shut down mining operations found to have contributed to the catastrophic flooding on Sumatra.
Britain’s King Charles III welcomed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday, marking the beginning of his three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. The visit, the first by a German President to the UK in 27 years, comes as the two countries continue to strengthen ties post-Brexit.
U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a blistering verbal attack on the Somali community, characterising migrants as "garbage" just as federal authorities prepare a contentious enforcement operation in the Midwestern state of Minnesota.
U.S. industrial production rose by 0.1% in September, rebounding after a decline in August, while capacity utilisation remained unchanged, according to Federal Reserve data on Wednesday.
Google’s YouTube has announced a “disappointing update” for millions of Australian users and creators, confirming it will comply with the country’s world-first ban on social media access for under-16s by locking affected users out of their accounts within days.
President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow has signed the “On Virtual Assets” law, which will officially legalise cryptocurrency mining and exchange activities in the country from 1 January 2026.
European Union ministers will urge senior U.S. trade officials to implement more elements of the July EU–U.S. trade deal on Monday, including cutting tariffs on EU steel and lifting duties on goods such as wine and spirits.
Google has announced a major update for its Pixel 10 series: owners can now send and receive files with Apple devices using AirDrop, without any collaboration from Apple. The new functionality applies to iPhones, iPads, and macOS devices, though for now it is limited to the Pixel 10 line.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
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