Traders
work
on
the
floor
of
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange
during
morning
trading
on
April
29,
2024.
Michael
M.
Santiago
|
Getty
Images
The
Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
jumped
Friday
for
its
best
session
of
the
year,
as
investors
wrapped
up
a
strong
month
after
the
Federal
Reserve’s
preferred
inflation
measure
came
in
largely
around
expectations.
The
blue-chip
Dow
climbed
574.84
points,
or
1.51%,
to
38,686.32,
lifted
by
Salesforce
and
UnitedHealth‘s
respective
advances
of
7.5%
and
2.8%.
The
S&P
500
added
0.80%
to
5,277.51.
The
Nasdaq
Composite
ticked
lower
by
0.01%
to
16,735.02,
as
Nvidia
and
a
few
other
megacap
technology
stocks
took
a
hit.
The
S&P
500
and
Nasdaq
snapped
five-week
win
streaks
with
slides
of
0.51%
and
1.1%,
respectively.
The
blue-chip
Dow
slipped
0.98%,
marking
a
second
straight
week
of
losses.
Despite
the
tough
week,
it
was
a
winning
May,
with
each
of
the
major
benchmarks
registering
a
sixth
positive
month
in
seven.
The
Dow
added
2.3%
this
month,
while
the
S&P
500
rose
4.8%.
The
Nasdaq
gained
6.88%,
notching
its
best
month
going
back
to
November.
“The
market
is
going
to
remain
choppy,”
said
Quincy
Krosby,
chief
global
strategist
at
LPL
Financial,
citing
variables
such
as
the
upcoming
election,
Treasury
yields
and
consumer
spending.
“There
are
questions
as
to:
Where
are
we
headed?
Where’s
the
economy
headed?”
A
chunk
of
May’s
strength
can
be
attributed
to
a
surge
in
Nvidia,
which
released
blockbuster
earnings
last
week.
Though
the
artificial
intelligence
darling’s
stock
fell
about
0.8%
on
Friday,
shares
ended
the
month
nearly
27%
higher.
Tesla
and
Netflix
also
pulled
back
on
Friday,
hurting
the
tech-heavy
Nasdaq
in
the
session.
Closely
followed
economic
data
released
Friday
morning
came
mostly
in
line
with
forecasts.
The
core
personal
consumption
expenditures
price
index
increased
0.2%
in
April,
the
same
figure
that
was
anticipated
by
economists
polled
by
Dow
Jones.
Core
PCE
rose
2.8%
on
an
annualized
basis,
slightly
above
the
2.7%
prediction
from
economists.
“This
week’s
most
important
economic
data
came
and
went
without
deviating
much
from
expectations,”
said
Chris
Zaccarelli,
chief
investment
officer
for
Independent
Advisor
Alliance,
adding
that
the
market
breathed
a
“sigh
of
relief”
after
the
report.
Traders
also
reacted
to
the
latest
corporate
earnings
results.
Dell
Technologies
tumbled
more
than
17%
despite
strong
earnings
after
saying
its
AI
server
backlog
was
smaller
than
anticipated.
Cloud
security
stock
Zscaler
popped
8.5%,
while
developer
data
platform
MongoDB
plunged
almost
24%.
Apparel
retailer
Gap
jumped
more
than
28%.
