Investors found solace in data showing strong economic activity in the largest economy in the world, and Wall Street closed higher on Friday, with all three main indices reporting weekly gains. In November, a gauge of company activity surged to a 31-month high, driven by expectations that the government of President-elect Donald Trump will have more business-friendly policies and lower interest rates.
Major Indexes Posting
The domestic small-cap Russell 2000 index (.RUT) increased 1.8%, outperforming large-cap indices. The index closed at its highest level in over a week, up 4.3% for the week.
Following Thursday’s 4% decline, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) saw a 1.7% decline as the U.S. Department of Justice told a judge that the business was controlling online search.
Nvidia (NVDA.O), a leading AI company, also fell 3.2% in erratic trade after releasing its quarterly projection on Wednesday.
As investors moved away from their growth counterparts (.IGX), an index that tracks S&P 500 value equities (.IVX) increased by 0.78%.
In business news, Gap Inc. surged 12.8% as the parent company of Old Navy increased its yearly sales projection and declared that the holiday season was off to a “strong start.”
Following the TurboTax parent company’s lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue and profit projections on Thursday, Intuit saw a 5.7% decline.
Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary is still up in the air, and given the significance of the position to the economy, Wall Street may be influenced by the announcement. The president-elect’s previous choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration on Thursday, instead he appointed former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the US attorney general.
In the meantime, rising bitcoin kept moving close to the historic $100,000 threshold, helped by increasing optimism that the Trump administration will back pro-crypto legislation. Following SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s announcement that he will leave down soon, the leading token briefly surged beyond $99,500 on Friday before falling amid expectations of more lax regulatory monitoring. The value of smaller cryptocurrencies increased as well.
