The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose to new heights on Friday amid a shortened trading day that capped a strong month for equities.
The S&P 500 added 0.56% to 6,032.38, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.83% to 19,218.17.The Dow climbed 188.59 points, or 0.42%, to end at 44,910.65. Both the Dow and S&P 500 notched new intraday and closing highs.
Some of the upward momentum came from chip stocks, which popped after Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration was considering additional barriers on the sale of semiconductor equipment to China that weren’t as strong as previously expected. Lam Research rallied more than 3%, while Nvidia jumped more than 2%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) added 1.3%.
A fairly broad advance propelled the S&P 500 into uncharted territory. About three out of every five S&P 500 members finished the session in the green.
Those moves came as traders looked to the end of a winning week and month. November trading largely centered on the postelection rally seen on the back of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
The Dow added 1.4% this week, bringing its gain for November to 7.5%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each advanced 1.1% on the week, ending 2024′s penultimate month higher by more than 5% and 6%, respectively. With those gains, the Dow and S&P 500 notched their best months of 2024.
The small cap-focused Russell 2000 outperformed in November as investors saw the group benefiting from Trump’s potential tax cuts. The Russell 2000 surged 10.8% this month, helped by a gain of 1.2% this week.
“The prevailing takeaway from November, to me, is that what was true before the election has remained true after the election,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management. “As we head into December, it’s really hard to fade this bull market here, with all the things going right, the election in the rearview and a seasonal tailwind that still has some room to run.”
Stocks have also been lifted late this year by expectations that interest rates remain on a downward course, which raises the present value of future earnings and should boost the economy. Fed funds futures are now pricing in around a 66% likelihood that the central bank will lower rates by 25 basis points at its policy meeting next month, according to CMEGroup’s FedWatch Tool.
The stock market was dark Thursday and closed at 1 p.m. ET on Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Friday trading volume on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq was less than two-thirds the past 30 days’ daily average.
