Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during morning trading on December 14, 2023, in New York City.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average looked to add to this week’s gains, which have led the 30-stock average to all-time highs.
The Dow traded 36 points higher, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 added 0.07%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4%. Shares of Costco climbed nearly 3% after the retailer surpassed Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly results and issued a dividend of $15 per share.
The major averages are headed for their seventh straight positive week. As of Friday, the Dow is higher on the week by about 2.8%. The S&P 500 is up by 2.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.9% so far this week. It would also mark the S&P 500’s seventh straight weekly gain, its longest winning streak since 2017. The Dow is also on pace for a nine-week winning streak, its longest run since 2019.
The S&P 500 could soon join the Dow with its own all-time high. The broad market index is less than 1.6% away from a record close set in January 2022. The Nasdaq is roughly 8% away from its highest-ever close, and about 9% from its all-time intraday high.
Stocks could see volatile trading as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 go through their respective rebalances. Once complete, Uber will be part of the S&P 500, and DoorDash and MongoDB will be added to the Nasdaq-100.One concern for this rebalancing is some stocks could end up having outsized weighting going on the indexes.
Wall Street rallied this week after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday admitted that its efforts to tamp down inflation are taking hold, and indicated three interest rate cuts are coming in 2024, buoying investor sentiment. The November retail sales data that came in stronger than expected on Thursday, following this week’s cooler inflation readings, added to hopes the Federal Reserve could navigate a soft landing.
“What we heard from Fed Chair Powell was that it’s not about the economy, it’s not about financial conditions, it’s not about the jobs market. It’s about inflation and inflation have been coming down pretty far and fast,” Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Thursday.
“And if we’re at a point where inflation is 2.7%, by March, that consensus is expecting interest rates are still at 5.5%,” Amoroso added. “That’s a big gap that the Fed can do something about, meaning cutting rates.”
That said, New York Fed President John Williams pushed back on the euphoria around the central bank easing rates next year. “We aren’t really talking about rate cuts right now,” Williams told CNBC’s Steve Liesman in an interview on Friday.
