watch
now
Stocks
rose
on
Friday
after
December’s
revised
inflation
reading
came
in
lower
than
first
reported,
and
the
S&P
500
closed
above
the
key
5,000
level
as
strong
earnings
and
economic
news
chugged
on.
The
S&P
500
rose
0.57%
to
end
at
5,026.61,
while
the
Nasdaq
Composite
rallied
1.25%
to
close
at
15,990.66.
The
Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
slipped
54.64
points,
or
0.14%,
to
settle
at
38,671.69.
For
the
week,
the
S&P
added
1.4%,
while
the
Nasdaq
gained
2.3%.
The
Dow
finished
flat.
All
three
major
averages
notched
their
fifth
straight
winning
week
and
14th
positive
week
in
15.
“At
the
end
of
the
day,
we’re
still
seeing
whopping
good
news
on
an
economic
front,
and
the
market
is
reacting
to
that,”
said
Dana
D’Auria,
co-chief
investment
officer
at
Envestnet.
“The
longer
that
story
plays
out,
the
more
likely
it
seems
to
the
market
that
we
actually
are
sticking
a
landing
here.”
A
solid
earnings
season,
easing
inflation
data
and
a
resilient
economy
have
charged
2024’s
market
rally.
It’s
also
propelled
the
S&P
to
close
above
the
5,000
level
after
first
touching
the
milestone
during
Thursday’s
session.
The
index
first
crossed
4,000
in
April
2021.
S&P
500
“A
close
above
this
closely
watched
level
will
undoubtedly
create
headlines
and
further
feed
fear
of
missing
out
(FOMO)
emotions,”
said
Adam
Turnquist,
chief
technical
strategist
at
LPL
Financial.
“Outside
of
a
potential
sentiment
boost,
round
numbers
such
as
5,000
often
provide
a
psychological
area
of
support
or
resistance
for
the
market.”
A
revision
lower
in
December’s
consumer
price
index
also
helped
sentiment.
The
government
adjusted
the
figure
to
a
0.2%
increase,
down
from
a
0.3%
increase
initially
reported.
Core
inflation
figures,
excluding
food
and
energy,
were
the
same.
January’s
CPI
figures
are
due
out
next
week.
Megacap
technology
stocks
gained
again
on
Friday,
contributing
to
the
S&P’s
march
above
5,000.
Nvidia
jumped
3.6%,
and
Alphabet
added
more
than
2%.
Cloudflare
skyrocketed
19.5%
on
strong
earnings,
boosting
the
broader
cloud
sector
in
tandem.
Semiconductor
stocks
also
rose,
with
the
VanEck
Semiconductor
ETF
(SMH)
edging
up
2.2%.
The
back
half
of
the
fourth-quarter
earnings
reporting
period
pressed
on,
with
PepsiCo
falling
3.6%
on
mixed
results.
Take-Two
Interactive
slumped
8.7%
on
a
disappointing
outlook,
while
Pinterest
dropped
9.5%
after
issuing
a
weaker-than-expected
forecast
and
missing
revenue
estimates.
Despite
these
negative
prints,
earnings
have
so
far
proven
more
robust
than
expected.
A
total
of
332
S&P
companies
have
reported
results,
with
about
81%
of
them
reporting
earnings
above
analyst
expectations,
according
to
LSEG.
That
compares
to
a
67%
beat
rate
in
a
typical
quarter
since
1994.
