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US Stocks Log Best Day Since May 02/06 15:26
The U.S. stock market roared back on Friday, as technology stocks recovered
much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin halted its plunge, at
least for now.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market roared back on Friday, as technology
stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin
halted its plunge, at least for now.
The S&P 500 rallied 2% for its best day since May. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average soared 1,206 points, or 2.5%, and topped the 50,000 level for the first
time, while the Nasdaq composite leaped 2.2%.
Chip companies helped drive the widespread rally, and Nvidia jumped 7.8% to
trim its loss for the week, which came into the day at just over 10%. Broadcom
climbed 7.1% and erased its drop for the week.
They were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500, and they benefited
from hopes for continued spending by customers diving into
artificial-intelligence technology. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, for example, said
late Thursday it expects to spend about $200 billion on investments this year
to take advantage of "seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, and low
earth orbit satellites."
Such immense spending, similar to what Alphabet announced a day earlier, is
creating concerns of its own, though. The question is whether all those dollars
will create big enough profits to make the investments worth it. With doubt
remaining about that, Amazon's stock dropped 5.6%.
Even with Friday's surge, the S&P 500 still fell to its third losing week in
the last four. Besides worries about spending by Big Tech companies, which are
Wall Street's most influential stocks, concerns about AI potentially stealing
customers from software companies also hurt the market. Software stocks got hit
particularly hard after AI firm Anthropic released free tools to automate
things like legal services.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, steadied following a weekslong plunge that had sent it
more than halfway below its record price set in October. It climbed back above
$70,000 after briefly dropping close to $60,000 late Thursday.
Prices in the metals market also calmed a bit following their own wild
swings. Gold rose 1.8% to settle at $4,979.80 per ounce, while silver added
0.2%.
Their prices suddenly ran out of momentum last week following jaw-dropping
rallies, which were driven by investors clamoring for something safe to own
amid worries about political turmoil, a U.S. stock market that critics called
expensive and huge debt loads for governments worldwide. By January, prices for
gold and silver were surging so quickly that critics called it unsustainable.
On Wall Street, the recovery for bitcoin helped stocks of companies enmeshed
in the crypto economy. Robinhood Markets jumped 14% for the biggest gain in the
S&P 500. Crypto trading platform Coinbase Global rose 13%. Strategy, the
company that's made a business of buying and holding bitcoin, soared 26.1%.
Stocks of smaller U.S. companies also helped lead the market, along with
companies whose profits depend on U.S. households spending more money. They
benefited from potentially encouraging data on how U.S. consumers are feeling.
A preliminary report from the University of Michigan suggested sentiment
among U.S. consumers is improving slightly, when economists were expecting to
see a drop. The improvement was strongest among households that own stocks,
which are benefiting from the S&P 500 setting a record late last month.
To be sure, sentiment "remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock
holdings," according to Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.
Airline stocks strengthened with hopes that more confidence among U.S.
households will translate into more spending on trips. That included gains of
9.3% for United Airlines, 8% for Delta Air Lines and 7.6% for American Airlines.
The smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index jumped 3.6%, well above the S&P
500's gain. Smaller companies' profits can be more dependent on the strength of
the U.S. economy than those for big, multinational rivals.
All told, the S&P 500 jumped 133.90 points to 6,932.30. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average rallied 1,206.95 to 50,115.67, and the Nasdaq composite
climbed 490.63 to 23,031.21.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe.
That was even though Stellantis, the auto giant whose stock trades in Italy,
lost a quarter of its value after saying it would take a charge of 22 billion
euros, or $26 billion, as it dials back its electric vehicle production. The
automaker acknowledged "over-estimating the pace of the energy transition" and
said it was resetting its business "to align the company with the real-world
preferences of its customers."
Stocks fell across much of Asia, but Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.8%. It
benefited from a 2% climb for Toyota Motor, which said CEO Koji Sato will step
down in April and will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Kenta Kon.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the
10-year Treasury edged down to 4.20% from 4.21% late Thursday.
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