NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is closing out a strong week for stocks on Friday, led by Apple and other companies that posted bigger-than-expected profits over the summer.
The S&P 500 rose 2% in afternoon trading, its first consecutive weekly gain since August. As of 1:22 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 737 points, or 2.3%, to 32,769, while the Nasdaq Composite was 2.3% higher than him.
One of the reasons for the recent rally in stocks is hopes of a “turnaround” by the Fed to scale back the massive rate hikes that have rocked the market. A move like this could give the market a boost, but many analysts say such expectations may be overkill.
“This rally has become somewhat irrational and vulnerable at this level,” said Liz Young, chief investment strategist at Sophie.
The central bank has been very clear about its plans to err on the side of excess to keep inflation in check, which means big gains based on pullback expectations are premature, she said.
While many large US companies have reported stronger-than-expected earnings recently, the picture is clearly mixed.
Apple rose 7.7%, becoming the strongest force in the S&P 500 in its first trade. Intel jumped 9.5% after delivering much bigger profits than analysts expected, despite what it said was “worsening economic conditions.”
Gilead Sciences surged 12.1% and T-Mobile US also beat Wall Street earnings expectations, rising 6.9%.
They helped offset Amazon’s 8.2% drop. It was the latest big tech company to take a hit this week after reporting some disappointing trends. After dominating Wall Street for decades and seemingly unstoppable growth, this is a sharp turnaround.
Earlier in the week, Meta Platforms lost almost a quarter of its value after reporting two straight quarters of revenue declines amid falling ad sales and stiff competition from TikTok. The parent companies of Microsoft and Google have also reported slowdowns in key areas.
Issues like these have created a sharp divide on Wall Street this week between lagging big tech stocks and the rest of the market. The Nasdaq, filled with high-growth tech stocks, is set to rise 1.7% this week. It would be even worse without Apple’s boost from Friday. On the other hand, the Dow’s low focus on technology has seen him surge toward a 5.5% gain this week.
Rising interest rates have hit big tech stocks harder than the rest of the market, with pressure building on Friday as yields climbed.
“The market still seems reluctant to believe that we could get into a situation where earnings could fall,” Young said.
Data released this morning showed that wage and other compensation hikes earned by U.S. workers over the summer were in line with economists’ expectations. This should put the Federal Reserve on track to maintain sharp rate hikes in hopes of undermining the job market enough to keep high inflation in the country at bay. Other data show that the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge is still very high, and US households continue to spend more in the face of it.
The Federal Reserve is trying to stem inflation from the purchases made by households and businesses necessary to sustain inflation. It does so by deliberately slowing the economy and the job market. The concern is that it could go too far and trigger a sharp recession.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) has raised its benchmark overnight interest rate from virtually zero in March to a range of 3% to 3.25%. What is widely expected is that next week he will push for another increase three times his usual size before potentially delivering a small increase in December. Rising interest rates not only slow the economy, but also affect the prices of stocks and other investments.
Two-year Treasury yields, which tend to track expectations of Federal Reserve (Fed) action, rose to 4.41% from 4.28% late Thursday.
The 10-year yield, which helps set interest rates on mortgages and many other loans, rose from 3.93% to 4.01%.
Trading in Twitter shares ended after Elon Musk took control of the company after a lengthy legal battle.
In Europe, stock indices were mixed in relatively calm trading.
Tokyo stocks fell 0.9% despite the government’s approval of a massive stimulus spending package to help the world’s third-largest economy cope with inflation. As expected, the Bank of Japan ended its policy meeting without changing its ultra-accommodative monetary policy despite forecasting higher inflation.
Contributed by Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Matt Ott, and Mari Yamaguchi.
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