Dow closes nearly 500 points higher on cooler inflation data, but index posts third straight losing week: Live updates

Stocks closed higher on Friday.

The major averages made a sharp reversal from a weak start to the day after commentary from Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee. He said that the latest reading on inflation encouraged him that price pressures were on a steady downward trajectory.

The S&P 500 added 1.09% to close at 5,930.85, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.03% to 19,572.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced about 498 points, or 1.18%, to finish the session at 42,840.26.

— Brian Evans

Gains seen among S&P 500 sectors in Friday trading were not enough to mitigate losses from earlier in the week.

All 11 sectors that comprise the broad index advanced in Friday’s session, propelling the S&P 500 itself higher by more than 1%. Real estate led the sectors higher in the session with a jump of more than 2%.

However, all 11 sectors were still on track to end the week in the red, underscoring the strength of the turmoil seen in prior trading days.

Energy and real estate are on pace to notch the largest drops this week, registering declines of around 6% and 4.5%, respectively. With those slides, both were tracking to see their worst weekly performances of 2024.

— Alex Harring

Shares of Novo Nordisk plunged more than 16% in afternoon trading, putting the stock on track for its worst day in more than 22 years.

If the stock closes around this level, it will see its biggest percentage decline since April 10, 2002, when it fell about 19%. Shares have also fallen more than 16% year to date and more than 18% over the past month.

The move lower comes after the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported disappointing late-stage trial results for its experimental weight loss drug known as CagriSema.

NVO, 1-day

Meanwhile, shares of rival obesity drug maker Eli Lilly moved higher on the heels of the results, rising around 2%. That stock has risen more than 32% this year.

— Sean Conlon, Karen Gilchrist

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) is higher in midday trading Friday and on pace to form a bullish outside day if it closes above 42,787.85.

The blue-chip, price-weighted index turned higher in morning trading after a volatile week in which it shed more than 1,100 points Wednesday for its biggest single-day point loss since September 2022. The Dow also logged its longest losing streak since 1974.

On Friday, Dow constituents Nvidia (NVDA) and Travelers (TRV) are also exhibiting bullish outside day patterns if they close above $134.03 and $239.80, respectively.

A “bullish outside day” is a two-day technical trading pattern where the second day’s price range fully engulfs the prior day’s range and closes higher. Traders often view this pattern as a potential signal of a reversal in an asset’s direction.

Despite Friday’s rally, the Dow remains nearly 2,000 points — or about 4.4% — below its most recent all-time high from early December, highlighting the challenge of recovering from significant drawdowns.

— Nick Wells

Russell 2000, 1-day

It comes near the end of a week of outsized losses for small caps. The Russell 2000 is tracking to finish the week down more than 4%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s slide of 2.3% during the same period.

— Alex Harring

These are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:

• Novo Nordisk — The stock slid 17% on the heels of the Danish pharmaceutical giant’s experimental CagriSema weight loss drug posting weaker-than-expected late-stage trial results.
• Mission Produce — The avocado producer surged 20% after its fiscal fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street’s estimates.
• Carnival — The cruise line operator jumped more than 5%. Carnival says it sees strong demand in 2025 and 2026.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Some 84% of New York Stock Exchange issues are trading higher Friday, only 12% are lower and the rest are unchanged after this week’s market turbulence, according to FactSet data. On the Nasdaq, 68% of all stocks are higher while just 22% are lower.

Measured by share volume, advancing shares account for 93% of all the volume traded on the NYSE on Friday and more than 87% on Nasdaq.

Nevertheless, reflecting the market’s weakness in December, new 52-week lows continue to swamp new highs on both markets, by 145 to 18 on the NYSE and 250 to 62 on Nasdaq. Trading is active, with midday composite NYSE volume some 48% of the past 30 days’ average versus 61% on Nasdaq.

— Scott Schnipper

The IVE, 1-month

The ETF is on track to finish the year about 9% higher, meaning it has underperformed the broader market in 2024.

— Alex Harring

Stocks turned higher in late morning trading after Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said Friday’s cooler-than-expected inflation reading is a positive sign that price pressures are still on track to ease to the Fed’s target.

“We’re still on path to get to 2% and at least for this new month you don’t want to make too much out of any one month, but I’m hopeful that this suggests that the couple of months of firming were more of a bump than a change in path,” Goolsbee told CNBC’s Steve Liesman.

The Dow jumped as much as 377 points to a session high following his comments, erasing a 195-point decline earlier during the day.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Tesla Supercharging stations are seen in a parking lot in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 16, 2024.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Several well-known tech stocks that struggled in early trading have moved into the green.

Tesla and Nvidia both added more than 1%. Alphabet last ticked higher by about 0.2%.

On the other hand, Amazon appeared to buck the uptrend with a loss of about 0.2%.

— Alex Harring

There could be dramatic price swings in the market Friday as the so-called triple witching event takes place.

Friday marks the quarterly expiration of stock index futures, stock index options and single stock options. Up to $6.6 trillion notional value of options are expiring, the largest event of the year, according to derivatives analytical firm Asym 500.

The December third-Friday expiration is typically the largest of any given year because December options start trading years in advance.

— Yun Li

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack explained her vote against this week’s interest rate cut, saying inflation remains “elevated” and the progress in bringing it down has been “uneven.”

“Based on my estimate that monetary policy is not far from a neutral stance, I prefer to hold policy steady until we see further evidence that inflation is resuming its path to our 2 percent objective,” Hammack said in a statement.

“The balance of risks to the outlook appears to be skewed toward higher inflation outcomes,” she added. “A stall in inflation above 2 percent for too long would risk de-anchoring inflation expectations, making it harder to return inflation to our objective.”

Hammack was the only member of the Federal Open Market Committee to vote against the quarter-percentage-point cut that took the central bank’s benchmark rate down to a target range between 4.25% and 4.5%.

— Jeff Cox

Stocks opened lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average on pace for its worst week in more than a year.

The 30-stock Dow pulled back 16 points, or 0.03%. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.8%.

— Brian Evans

A FedEx driver loads packages into a delivery truck during Black Friday preparations in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington on Nov. 26, 2024.

Benoit Tessier | Reuters

Here are the stocks making big moves in the premarket:

• Novo Nordisk — Shares plunged more than 19% after the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported disappointing late-stage trial results for its experimental weight loss drug CagriSema. Rival obesity drug maker Eli Lilly rose more than 6% following the results.
• FedEx — Shares jumped 8.5% after FedEx announced a spinoff of its freight business. Elsewhere, the company said earnings per share for the fiscal second quarter came in at $4.05, excluding items, while analysts polled by LSEG anticipated just $3.90. On the other hand, the company saw $21.97 billion in revenue for the quarter, under the consensus forecast of $22.10 billion.
• Nike — The athletic apparel retailer’s stock sank more than 7%. Nike topped Wall Street’s already-low expectations but showed a decline in revenue and earnings year over year. The company’s CEO also said Nike’s turnaround plan could take longer than anticipated.

Read the full list here.

— Sean Conlon

Nicolas Economou | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Bitcoin declined more than 9% on Friday, slumping below the $93,000 level.

Earlier in the week, the digital asset touched a fresh all-time high of $108,000 and hovered around $102,000 on Thursday. The declines came after the Federal Reserve spooked financial markets when it indicated that fewer rate cuts could come next year.

Companies tied to cryptocurrencies fell Friday, with MicroStrategy and Coinbase last down more than 5% each. Robinhood shed 6%.

— Samantha Subin

Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, perked up again Friday, following its second-biggest spike in history earlier this week after the Federal Reserve said it would pare back its rate-cutting campaign.

The CBOE Volatility Index topped the 26 handle in the early morning, rising 9% from the previous session. It was last at 26.16.

On Wednesday, the measure soared 74% to close at 27.62, up from around 15 earlier that same day. That increase was the second-greatest in history, following a 115% rise to above the 37 level back in February 2018 when there was a blow-up in funds tracking the volatility index.

VIX

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., walks from his office to the House floor in the U.S. Capitol for the vote on the revised continuing resolution bill to avert a government shutdown on Dec. 19, 2024.

Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

U.S. stock futures inched lower after a House Republican spending deal to avert a government shutdown failed Thursday night.

Thirty-eight Republicans voted against the bill, which was endorsed by President-elect Trump. All Democrats, with the exception of two who supported the measure and one who voted present, were against it as well.

— Sean Conlon, Christina Wilkie

Short sellers are putting more automakers in their cross hairs in the wake of a stepped-up number of sell ratings from Wall Street analysts, according to S3 Partners, which specializes in monitoring short selling activity.

“Major global auto stocks have experienced significant declines in 2024, with many facing growing short positions and increased analyst sell recommendations,” S3 researchers said. “Notable patterns emerge across regions, with larger companies like Toyota, Volvo, and Porsche showing a rise in short interest and sell ratings, while smaller firms exhibit persistent short positions with minimal shifts in analyst sentiment.”

U.S. automakers or stocks traded here with large short positions include Lucid Group ($8 billion market cap), Rivian Automotive ($15 billion) and Winnebago Industries ($1.5 billion), alongside American depositary receipts of NIO ($9 billion).

“For the major stocks in each region, the short position has grown as the stock has fallen,” S3 said. “For the smaller stocks, many had large short positions to begin with.”

Rivian shares have fallen more than 43% in 2024.

The U.S Capitol is seen in Washington on Dec. 19, 2024.

Anna Rose Layden | Reuters

Lawmakers in Washington are scrambling to head off a last-minute government shutdown, but investors should make sure to stay in their seats, according to Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

President-elect Donald Trump backed a plan that House Republicans pulled together. The measure could go to a vote as early as Thursday evening, and if it is approved, it could avert a shutdown that would start Friday night.

“We doubt there will be a new agreement in time to avert a partial shutdown after December 20, but expect a new spending bill around the end of the year,” said Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

He said his team thinks there is “likely to be little economic or financial-market impact” in the event of a shutdown and that discretionary spending — not Social Security or Medicare payments — will feel the effect. He recommended maintaining current portfolio positions.

“We continue to foresee a strong economy heading into 2025 — we maintain our outlook for earnings growth and an S&P 500 Index target range of 6500-6700,” Christopher wrote. “We are making no changes in guidance and prefer to look through any shutdown.”

— Darla Mercado

The FedEx company logo is displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on July 31, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Check out the stocks making big moves in extended trading:

• FedEx — Shares rose 8% following the delivery giant’s better-than-expected earnings. For its fiscal second quarter, FedEx reported adjusted earnings of $4.05 per share, above the $3.90 per share that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. Revenue, however, came in weaker than expected. The company also announced that it is planning on spinning off its freight business.
• Nike — The retailer’s stock popped around 6% after its fiscal second-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates. Nike earned 78 cents per share on $12.35 billion in revenue. Analysts were expecting 63 cents per share on revenue of $12.13 billion, according to LSEG.
• Mission Produce — Shares gained 9% on the heels of the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results beating analysts’ expectations. Mission Produce posted adjusted earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $354.4 million. That is an improvement from the 11 cents per share in adjusted earnings the company posted in the year-ago period. Revenue also rose 37% from a year earlier.

Read the full list here.

— Sean Conlon

U.S. stock futures inched higher Thursday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36 points, or 0.08%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

— Sean Conlon