U.S. stocks soared on Friday as investors cheered strong quarterly reports from Meta Platforms and Amazon.com, pushing the benchmark S&P 500 to a new record, while strong jobs data suppressed the cheerful mood.
U.S. job growth accelerated in January, with wage increases at the highest rate in nearly two years, a sign of continued labor market strength, and as financial markets currently assume, the Fed It may be difficult for the Bank to start cutting rates in May.
Richard Flynn, managing director at Charles Schwab UK, said: “The strong jobs report shows that demand in the labor market is higher than expected.
“Lower interest rates would certainly be welcomed, but as it becomes increasingly clear that markets and the economy are coping well with the high interest rate environment, investors are probably thinking that the need for monetary policy easing is less urgent. I guess you feel it’s not.”
The issuance of its first dividend ahead of Facebook’s 20th anniversary, combined with higher sales and profits from strong advertising sales in the U.S., boosted sentiment as Meta rose 21.5%. It hit a record high, helping the S&P 500 communications services sector rise 4.6%. holiday shopping period.
Other social media companies Snap and Pinterest rose 6.6% and 4.9%, respectively.
Amazon.com rose 8.0% on fourth-quarter sales growth, as new generative AI capabilities in its cloud and e-commerce businesses drove solid growth during the important holiday period.
Apple’s forecast for lower iPhone sales and a lower-than-expected total sales target of $6 billion as its business in China took a hit weighed on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 0.2%.
The tech trio’s gains, part of a group of mega-stocks commonly referred to as the “Magnificent 7,” have been boosted by the company’s lofty valuations and a drop in the S&P 500 following disappointing AI cost forecasts from Alphabet and Microsoft and growth warnings from Tesla. This is likely to offset some concerns about overweighting.
In premarket trading, Wall Street rebounded from Wednesday’s losses after the Federal Reserve dashed lingering bets that interest rate cuts could begin as early as March.
Meanwhile, New York Community Bancorp plunged 6.3%, posting a third straight day of losses after disappointing results raised concerns about lenders’ exposure to the ailing commercial real estate sector. did. The KBW Regional Bank Index has recently been flat after falling nearly 9% over the past three days.
The real estate sector led the sector decline, down 2.1%, while the Russell 2000 Small Cap Index fell 1.0%.
As of 12:22 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.95 points, or 0.06%, to 38,544.79, the S&P 500 rose 45.83 points, or 0.93%, to 4,952.02, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 244.30 points, or 1.59 points. Rose. %, 15,605.94.
Cigna rose 5.8% after the health insurer raised its full-year profit forecast.
Semiconductor maker Microchip Technology fell 2.1% after forecasting lower-than-expected fourth-quarter net sales, while footwear maker Skechers USA reported lower-than-expected 2024 forecasts. As a result, the stock fell 8.3%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing issues by a 2.69-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and 2.14-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 52 new highs and 4 new lows in 52 weeks, while the Nasdaq recorded 58 new highs and 115 new lows.
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