A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 4, 2022.
Source: NYSE
The S&P 500 reached new records on Friday as optimism around the start of President Donald Trump’s term continued.
The benchmark traded around flat after hitting a fresh intraday record in the session. The Nasdaq Composite also flickered around its flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 29 points, or 0.1%.
Excitement toward Trump’s pro-business policies pushed risk assets higher this week with investors focused on his inauguration. Traders were also relieved that there have only been threats on the tariff front from Trump — instead of formal action — during his first few days in the White House.
All three major averages are on track to post their second positive week, signaling the bull market is back in full force after December’s pullback. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have each risen around 2% week to date, while the Dow climbed 2.2%
Friday’s action comes after Trump said on Thursday that he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately” when addressing world leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The president also said he would ask Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to lower the price of oil.
In addition to hitting an all-time intraday high, the S&P 500 also closed at a record on Thursday following those comments. That means the market has completely erased losses recorded during December’s slump.
“So far, markets have reacted to every statement made by the President, even those that should not have any impact,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert. “This shows that traders have not yet settled into their pace.”
Novo Nordisk rallied more than 7% following positive early-stage results for a weight-loss drug. Texas Instruments, on the other hand, slid more than 5% on weak earnings guidance.
Investors are also gearing up for next week, when attention will turn to big technology earnings and the Federal Reserve meeting.
Twilio heads for best day since 2020
Twilio shares jumped nearly 21% and headed for their best day since May 2020 after issuing upbeat profit guidance.
The company said it expects its adjusted operating margin to range between 21% and 22% in 2027, ahead of the 16.1% estimate from Wall Street analysts. Twilio also shared a strong free cash flow forecast.
Twilio heads for best day in nearly five years
— Samantha Subin
Gold gains 1% to trade near record highs
Spot gold rose 1% to $2,781.66 per ounce on Friday to trade at its highest level since Oct. 31, when gold prices hit a record high of $2,790.15.
Gold’s climb back to its all-time highs came on the back of Trump’s comments at the World Economic Forum for lower interest rates. Uncertainty around the strictness of Trump’s tariffs and whether the U.S. president will ultimately settle for a trade deal with China also contributed to the rally in gold prices.
Gold is traditionally used as a safe-haven asset that investors flock to during times of political and economic volatility.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Meta shares hit record high after Zuckerberg sets promising AI targets
Shares of Meta Platforms rose about 1% Friday to hit an all-time high after CEO Mark Zuckerberg set his company’s artificial intelligence targets for the year.
Zuckerberg announced in a Facebook post that the company plans to invest around $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditure this year as it builds out its AI infrastructure.
Meta is building a large datacenter that “would cover a significant part of Manhattan” to power its AI offerings and will end the year with 1.3 million GPUs, Zuckerberg said.
“We have the capital to continue investing in the years ahead,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Meta stock
— Yun Li
Biotech stocks climb higher for the week
The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) is up 5.5% week to date, on pace for its best week since July 2024, when it climbed 7.9%.
Moderna has led the fund higher. Shares have popped 25.5% since Monday, putting the stock on track for its biggest weekly gain since March 18, 2022, when it surged around 29.5%.
XBI ETF over the week
— Hakyung Kim, Gina Francolla
Home sales closed out 2024 with some signs of improvement
A “For Sale” sign is placed outside a residential property in Washington on Dec. 15, 2024.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
Home sales rose in December, registering their strongest annual gain in three and a half years, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday.
Existing sales were at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.15 million for the month, up 2.2% from November, though slightly below the Dow Jones estimate of 4.2 million. On a monthly basis, it was the best reading since February 2024, while the highest annually since June 2021.
However, the full year was still a difficult one for the industry. Sales totaled 4.06 million for the year, the lowest since 1995 as mortgage rates remained elevated and the median sales price hit a record $407,500.
“Home sales in the final months of the year showed solid recovery despite elevated mortgage rates,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “Job and wage gains, along with increased inventory, are positively impacting the market.”
— Jeff Cox
Services PMI reading disappoints, while manufacturing accelerates
Service-sector activity hit a nine-month low in January, while manufacturing moved into expansion for the first time since last spring, S&P Global reported Friday.
The firm’s services index from purchasing managers dipped to 52.8, down 4 points from December and below the Dow Jones forecast for 56.5. For manufacturing, the index rose to 50.2, up 2.5 points on the month and beating the estimate of 49.7.
Despite the mixed readings, optimism for the future was high, with the joint services and manufacturing outlook holding at its highest since May 2022.
A reading above 50 in the PMI surveys represents expansion.
— Jeff Cox
S&P 500 opens little changed
Piper Sandler upgrades Travelers after earnings, says stock looks ‘inexpensive’
Travelers stock gave back some of its postearnings gains on Thursday, but it is still winning over skeptics on Wall Street.
Piper Sandler analyst Paul Newsome upgraded the insurance stock to overweight from neutral on Friday, saying in a note to clients that Travelers looks “inexpensive” after a strong fourth-quarter report.
“Both the commercial lines unit is holding its profitability better than we expected and the personal lines underwriting its improving faster than we expected,” Newsome said. “The company has reduced its combined ratio in Business Insurance to 94.2% in FY24 from highs of around 101% over the last few years. Improvement on an underwriting basis in personal lines was particularly strong this quarter at an 80.7% combined versus 86.8% in the prior year period,” Newsome added.
Travelers should be able to continue this improvement with price increases, the analyst said.
On Wednesday morning, the insurer reported core income of $9.15 per share, above the $6.64 projected by analysts, according to StreetAccount. The stock, which is part of the Dow, slipped 2% on Thursday but is up about 1% since the earnings report was released.
— Jesse Pound
JPMorgan Chase downgrades Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent company PVH
A logo displayed on a tag at a Tommy Hilfiger outlet retail store at Bicester Village in Oxfordshire, Britain, on Aug. 21, 2024.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
Shares of Tommy Hilfiger parent company PVH could have a long runway to growth as the firm reworks its marketing strategies for its big brands, according to JPMorgan Chase.
“[W]e see an elongated path to reaching management’s Mid-Teens operating margin target given a slower topline recovery with continued macroeconomic challenges globally, in addition to a competitive external promotional backdrop, and foreign exchange pressures,” analyst Matthew Boss wrote Friday.
The firm downgraded PVH to neutral from overweight, and lowered its price target to $113 per share from $149. JPMorgan’s forecast implies about 17% upside from Thursday’s $96.32 close.
— Brian Evans
Stocks head for winning week
With just Friday’s session left in the holiday-shortened trading week, the three major indexes are on track to finish higher.
The Dow has led the way, rising 2.5% week to date. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each also rose more than 2%.
The stock market was dark on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
— Alex Harring
Novo Nordisk pops on weight loss trial results
Liselotte Sabroe | AFP | Getty Images
Shares of Novo Nordisk popped 10% after the pharmaceutical giant reported positive results from an early stage trial on a weight loss drug.
“We are very encouraged by the subcutaneous phase 1b/2a results for amycretin in people living with overweight or obesity,” Martin Lange, executive vice president for development at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement.
“The results seen in the trial support the weight lowering potential of this novel unimolecular GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist, amycretin, that we have previously seen with the oral formulation,” Lange said.
— Fred Imbert
Asia-Pacific markets tracked Wall Street gains
Asia-Pacific markets climbed Friday, after the S&P 500 hit record highs overnight.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.85% to end the day at 2,536.80, while the Kosdaq rose 0.65% to close at 728.74.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose for a third straight week. The index ended the day up 0.36% at 8,408.9.
Mainland China’s CS1300 benchmark rose 0.77% to end the day at 3,832.86. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.67% in its last hour of trade.
Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.5% — the highest since 2008 and in line with economists’ expectations. After the decision, the Japanese yen weakened marginally to trade at 155.18 against the dollar.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix subsequently erased earlier gains to close flat at 39,931.98 and 2,751.04, respectively.
— Amala Balakrishner
Crude oil on pace for largest weekly decline since November; gold heads for 4th straight weekly gain
The sun sets behind a crude oil pump jack on a drill pad in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, on Nov. 24, 2019.
Angus Mordant | Reuters
Crude oil, be it West Texas Intermediate or the global benchmark Brent, is on course for its largest weekly decline since November.
March WTI contracts are off 4.2% week to date through Thursday, their first down week in five and the worst weekly loss since late November. March Brent futures are down 3.1% this week, also their first weekly decline in five weeks, and on pace for the largest weekly loss since Nov. 15.
February gold futures are ahead 0.6% this week, good enough for a fourth straight weekly advance for the first time since last August, if the gains hold through Friday.
Among agricultural commodities, March corn futures touched $4.945 a bushel on Thursday, the highest since October 2023, and are already up 6.7% so far this month.
— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla
Stocks making the biggest moves after hours
Here are the companies making headlines after the bell:
- Boeing — The airplane maker saw shares dropping nearly 2% in after-hours trading after the company released preliminary fourth-quarter financial results.
- Texas Instruments — The semiconductor stock slipped more than 2% in extended trading after the firm issued a disappointing earnings forecast for the current quarter.
- CSX — The transportation giant saw shares falling 2% in after-hours trading after the company reported a revenue miss.
- Twilio — Shares of the cloud communications software maker surged more than 11% in extended trading after the firm issued a rosy profit forecast for the next few years at a Thursday investor event.
— Yun Li