Benchmark surpasses its previous high set two years ago
A rally in technology stocks propelled the S&P 500 to an all-time high Friday.
The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to 4839.81, breaking a streak of more than 500 trading sessions without a new record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 395 points, or 1.1%, to close at 37863.80, also a record. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.7%.
Shares of tech companies led the charge higher. An upbeat earnings report this week from chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spurred a resurgence in semiconductor stocks like Nvidia , Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom . The PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 4%. Shares of Apple , which uses TSMC chips, rose 1.6%.
“That earnings report took the leash off the bull,” said Jeff Kilburg, founder and CEO of KKM Financial. “All we needed was a spark to get the S&P 500 back into positive territory.”
The recent comeback in shares of chip makers echoes the excitement around artificial-intelligence companies that boosted the stock market last year. Since the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are weighted by market capitalizations, shares of big tech companies have an outsize influence on index performance.
“We’ve seen a resumption of leadership in technology stocks again here over the back half of this week,” Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.
U.S. stocks stumbled at the beginning of this year after the S&P 500’s 24% gain in 2023. Investor optimism about how quickly the Federal Reserve might pivot to cutting interest rates has waned. Traders are pricing in a roughly 46% probability that the Fed will reduce rates at its March policy meeting, down from 68% one month ago, according to federal-funds futures.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/global-stocks-markets-dow-news-01-19-2024-1480a097