Monday, December 23, 2024

Stock market today: Wall Street cruises to more records as it closes its best week in a year

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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks cruised to more records as they closed their best week in a year on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to cap its biggest weekly gain since early November 2023 and briefly crossed above the 6,000 level for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 259 points, or 0.6%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

The relatively quiet trading followed huge gains earlier in the week after Donald Trump won the presidential election and the Federal Reserve cut interest rates again to make things easier for the economy.

Axon Enterprise, which sells Tasers and body cameras used by police officers, helped lead the market. It jumped 28.7% after delivering stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also raised its revenue forecast for the full year to $2.07 billion, which would mean 32% growth.

Expedia Group rose 3.8% after likewise topping profit expectations. It said booked room nights rose 9% from a year earlier.

Helping to keep the market in check was Airbnb, which sank 8.7% after the online vacation rental platform posted a mixed third-quarter earnings report and issued forecasts for the fourth quarter that disappointed investors.

Digital pinboard and shopping site Pinterest slid 14% after the company’s revenue guidance came in lower than investors expected, even as it easily beat Wall Street’s sales and profit targets.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 22.44 points to 5,995.54. The Dow gained 259.65 to 43,988.99, and the Nasdaq composite edged up 17.32 to 19,286.78.

In the bond market, longer-term Treasury yields eased.

A preliminary report in the morning suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers rose for a fourth straight month to its highest level in six months. The survey from the University of Michigan, which was conducted before Tuesday’s election, also said expectations for inflation in the coming year eased to the lowest level since 2020.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.30% from 4.33% late Thursday. But it’s still well above where it was in mid-September, when it was close to 3.60%.

Treasury yields climbed in large part because the U.S. economy has remained much more resilient than feared. The hope is that it can continue to stay solid as the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates in order to keep the job market humming, now that it’s helped get inflation nearly down to its 2% target.

Some of the rise in yields has also been because of Trump. He talks up tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation and the U.S. government’s debt higher, along with the economy’s growth.

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