Professional traders work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on November 27, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stocks were higher on Friday at the start of a shortened trading day, capping a strong month for stocks.
this Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose 141 points, or 0.3%, and is expected to reach a new high closing record. this S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Index Increases of 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.
Part of the rally came from chip stocks, which Bloomberg reports Biden administration considering additional barriers to semiconductor equipment sales to China Not that strong As expected. Applied Materials and Pan-forest research Increased by more than 2% and 3% respectively NVIDIA An increase of more than 1%. this iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) Add more than 1%.
The moves come as traders look to a winning week and month to end. November trading focused on the post-election rally that followed President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
The Dow is up more than 1% so far this week, bringing November’s gain to more than 7%. This was the Dow’s best month since November 2023. Both are expected to rise more than 5% by the penultimate month of 2024.
Year-to-date Dow Chemical
Mainly small stocks Russell 2000 The group outperformed the broader market in November as investors saw the group benefiting from Trump’s potential tax cuts. With gains of more than 1% this week, the Russell 2000 has soared more than 11% this month.
“The general takeaway for me in November is that what was going on before the election will continue to be true after the election,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management. “It’s going to be really hard for the bull market here to fade as we get into December because everything is going so well, the election is a thing of the past and there’s still some room for seasonal tailwinds to run.”
Stocks also got a boost later this year on expectations of continued declines in interest rates, which boost the present value of future earnings and should boost the economy. Based on current pricing in federal funds futures, the probability that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at next month’s policy meeting is about 66% CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Stocks had a rough day Thursday and closed at 1 p.m. ET on Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. There are no noteworthy economic data releases or corporate earnings reports on Friday. Trading is expected to be light.
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