Traders
react
after
the
closing
bell
on
the
floor
at
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange
on
March
20,
2024.
Brendan
Mcdermid
|
Reuters
The
S&P
500
rose
Thursday,
registering
its
best
first-quarter
performance
in
five
years.
The
broad
market
benchmark
was
up
0.11%
to
settle
at
5,254.35.
The
Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
added
47.29
points,
or
0.12%,
and
finished
at
39,807.37.
Both
indexes
closed
at
records,
and
the
S&P
500
hit
a
fresh
all-time
high
during
the
session.
The
Nasdaq
Composite
slipped
0.12%
to
end
at
16,379.46.
For
the
quarter,
the
S&P
500
added
10.2%
for
its
best
first-quarter
gain
since
2019,
when
it
rallied
13.1%.
The
30-stock
Dow
advanced
5.6%
during
the
period
for
its
strongest
first-quarter
performance
since
2021
when
it
jumped
7.4%.
The
Nasdaq
ended
the
quarter
with
a
9.1%
pop.
Huge
Q1
gains
for
S&P
500
On
the
month,
the
S&P
500
was
higher
by
3.1%.
The
Nasdaq
added
1.8%
in
March,
while
the
Dow
climbed
2.1%.
It
was
the
fifth
straight
winning
month
for
all
three
major
averages.
Driving
the
gains
this
quarter
and
month
has
been
Nvidia,
last
year’s
market
leader,
as
the
artificial
intelligence
craze
shows
no
signs
of
slowing.
The
stock
soared
82.5%
for
the
quarter
and
gained
14.2%
in
March
alone.
On
the
economic
front
Thursday,
initial
filings
for
unemployment
insurance
for
the
week
that
ended
March
16
came
in
at
210,000,
slightly
lower
than
the
211,000
that
economists
surveyed
by
Dow
Jones
had
predicted.
“As
we
head
into
next
week,
the
data
gets
a
lot
heavier,
so
we’ll
have
more
catalysts
to
drive
things
around,
but
I
would
say
on
balance,
this
has
been
the
end
to
a
really
good
month
and
a
really
good
quarter
and
it’s
nice
to
finish
up
and
head
into
the
weekend
on
a
super
upbeat
tone,”
said
Art
Hogan,
chief
market
strategist
at
B.
Riley
Wealth.
The
Federal
Reserve’s
preferred
inflation
measure
—
the
personal
consumption
expenditures
report
—
is
due
Friday
morning.
Though
markets
will
be
closed
for
Good
Friday,
the
results
of
this
reading
could
sway
markets
in
the
approaching
week.
