The stock market ended the week on a high note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging over 300 points and the S&P 500 posting its best week since the period following Donald Trump’s election victory in 2020. The Dow added 334.70 points, or 0.78%, to end at 34,487.83, while the S&P 500 gained 1% to 4,496.66 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.51% to 13,630.20. Big tech stocks led the way, with shares of Apple popping 3%, chipmaking giant Nvidia jumping 3.1%, and shares of Meta adding more than 1%.
For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 advanced 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively, marking their biggest weekly advance since November 2020. The Nasdaq climbed 2.5% week-to-date for its best one-week performance since early December. The gains come on the heels of back-to-back reports showing inflationary pressures softening somewhat, with the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index both showing slower increases for December.
The 10-year Treasury yield pulled back sharply as hopes for multiple rate cuts this year rose. Strong earnings from major banks also boosted stocks this week, with shares of JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup each roughly 12% higher on the week, while Wells Fargo added 8% in the period.
Big tech boosts market gains
Investors are also looking ahead to next week, as Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated as president for the second time. In other news, Microsoft shares are up 2.6% week-to-date, on track to end a four-week negative streak, while shares of Tesla are down 3.2% for the week and nearly 10% over the last three weeks. Qorvo shares rose more than 13% in afternoon trading, putting the stock on pace for its best day in more than four years.
According to Chris Senyek, chief investment strategist at Wolfe Research, the financial sector stands to benefit the most from policies under President-elect Donald Trump. “We still see Financials as the biggest sectoral winner under the Trump administration,” he wrote to clients on Friday. The yen strengthened more than 1% against the dollar week-to-date amid growing expectations of a rate cut by the Bank of Japan next week.
Crypto stocks jumped amid reports that President-elect Donald Trump could release an executive order making crypto a national priority, with shares of crypto exchange operators Coinbase and Robinhood advancing 4.5% and 6%, respectively. All sectors of the market are on pace to notch weekly gains, with materials, energy, and financials all up 6% and more for the week, outperforming the S&P 500. The biggest underperformer is health care, which is up just 0.9% week-to-date.
