Dow rises more than 400 points for record close, Wall Street posts weekly gain: Live updates

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new record on Friday, capping off a winning week for stocks.

The blue-chip Dow gained 426.16 points, or 0.97%, to 44,296.51, a new all-time closing high and its third straight positive session. The S&P 500 added 0.35% to finish at 5,969.34 for its fifth winning day in a row.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.16% to 19,003.65. Gains were restricted by slides of 3.2% and 1.7% in Nvidia and Alphabet, respectively.

The Dow ended the week about 2% higher, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each added about 1.7%. That marks a turn from last week, when Wall Street’s postelection rally stalled.

Friday’s moves marked a continuation of a trend where investors shift exposure from tech to names in more economically sensitive corners of the market. That can explain why the industrial and consumer discretionary sectors led the S&P 500 higher, while communication services was the worst performer.

While tech struggled, bitcoin neared the long-awaited milestone of $100,000. Small-cap stocks also showed strength this week, with the Russell 2000 climbing 1.8% in Friday’s session to finish the week up by roughly 4.5%.

“Investors are rotating out of the previous high flyers of large-cap communication services and technology and into other cyclical sectors of consumer discretionary, industrials, and financials, as well as mid- and small-cap stocks,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “Drivers continue to be the traditional end-of-election-year rally, in which all sizes, styles, and sectors within the S&P 1500 rose in price.”

Stocks close session and week higher

The three major indexes finished Friday’s session up, capping off a winning week.

The Dow added nearly 1%, bringing its weekly gain to around 2%. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, ending the week at 1.7% higher. The Nasdaq Composite inched higher by 0.2%, also finishing the week up 1.7%.

Elsewhere, the small cap-focused Russell 2000 outperformed. The index climbed 1.8% on Friday, raising its weekly advance to nearly 4.5%.

— Alex Harring

Market strength should continue into year-end, CIO says

Recent choppiness shouldn’t make investors question whether the market has strength into the end of 2024, according to Robert Schein, chief investment officer of Blanke Schein Wealth Management.

“The stock market is living up to its historical dynamic of seasonal strength in November,” Schein said. “We expect this strength to continue into year-end.”

“Even though the market has been volatile over the past week as investors start to question the post-election rally, we believe the market’s overall fundamentals remain strong and are supportive of stock prices,” he added

— Alex Harring

Consumer trends might not rise as much next year, says Strategas

Although Strategas holds a degree of skepticism on the rate of revenue growth forecasted by analysts for 2025, it “acknowledge[s] that top-line appears directionally correct.”

To be sure, it believes consumer trends may weaken over the course of next year.

“By our lights, it will be difficult for the consumer to replicate its strong positive trend line as growth in wages and savings anniversary,” CEO Nicholas Bohnsack wrote in a research note on Thursday.

— Hakyung Kim

Decker’s Outdoor hits all-time high following Needham initiation

Shares of Decker’s Outdoors touched levels never seen before after investment bank Needham initiated coverage.

Shares jumped more than 5% on Friday. The stock is on track for its third straight positive day and posted a new intraday high, surpassing a level set in June.

Analyst Tom Nikic opened coverage at a buy rating and added the stock to the firm’s “conviction list.” Nikic’s $218 price target implies shares can rally nearly 20% from where the stock closed Thursday.

“DECK is one of the highest-quality companies in our coverage,” Nikic wrote to clients in a Friday note. It has “an impressive multi-year track record of performance, two of the strongest brands in the industry (Hoka and UGG), a stellar management team, and a fortress balance sheet.”

The stock is now up more than 70% in 2024, on track for its 9th straight winning year.

— Alex Harring, Nick Wells

UBS remains bullish on AI compute industry despite product, tariff risks heading into 2025

UBS still views upside ahead for Nvidia after its quarterly beat and expected Blackwell ramp — and is staying positive on the AI compute industry looking ahead to the end of next year.

“On the back of strong expected revenue growth in 2025, we maintain our positive view on the AI compute industry and NVIDIA in particular,” analyst Sundeep Gantori wrote in a Thursday note. “Still, investors should not lose sight of potential risks in 2025, including around the product transition and tariff-related uncertainties.”

Gantori recommended investors take advantage of higher near-term volatility by buying the dip in quality AI stocks or through structured strategies, given his positive view on AI semiconductors and leading cloud platform providers.

“[We do see some product transition risks around end-2025 and tariff-related uncertainty. At this stage, however, we think these risks are relatively manageable for the AI supply chain,” he said.

— Pia Singh

Super Micro on track for best week ever

Super Micro Computer moved around 11% higher in afternoon trading, bringing its week-to-date gains to more than 77%. That puts the stock on pace for its biggest weekly gain on record.

The gains come after the company announced earlier this week that it hired BDO as its new auditor and provided the Nasdaq with a plan outlining how it’ll stay in compliance with the exchange’s rules.

Shares have risen around 16% this year and more than 13% month to date.

— Sean Conlon

Utilities outperforms this week

The Utilities Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) is up more than 3% week to date, making it the best-performing sector ETF on the week.

This puts the XLU on pace for its third straight weekly gain and less than 1% from its all-time high from mid-October.

Vistra leads the XLU for the week and the S&P 500 for the year with its more than 300% rise in 2024. The stock reached a fresh all-time high this morning before turning lower. Constellation Energy too is up more than 10% WTD, pacing to break a four-week losing streak. 

— Hakyung Kim, Nick Wells

Texas Pacific Land shares jump following S&P 500 inclusion announcement

Shares of Texas Pacific Land surged around 14%, hitting a fresh intraday all-time high, following the announcement that it’s going to join the S&P 500, effective before the bell on Tuesday. The landowner will replace Marathon Oil after ConocoPhillips completed its acquisition of the company.

The move puts the stock on pace for its best day since June 10, when it gained more than 24%. The stock has also seen massive gains in 2024, soaring more than 229% year to date.

— Sean Conlon, Gina Francolla

SEC Commissioner Lizarraga announces resignation

SEC Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga announced Friday that he will resign from the agency, effective Jan. 17. Lizarraga said in a statement that his wife is ill and that stepping aside was in the best interests of his family.

Lizarraga’s announcement comes one day after SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced that he would resign, effective Jan. 20.

The openings could allow President-elect Donald Trump to reshape the SEC quickly once his term begins.

Lizarraga, a former adviser to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, was appointed to the commissioner role by President Biden in 2022.

— Jesse Pound

Small caps outperform in session and week

Small-cap stocks saw outsized gains on Friday and over the course of the trading week.

The small cap-focused Russell 2000 added about 1.7% in Friday’s session. That brought its week-to-date gain above 4%.

By comparison, the broad S&P 500 ticked up by about 0.4% in the session. It’s poised to finish the week higher by just over 1.7%.

— Alex Harring

Reddit, Super Micro among the names making moves midday

Some stocks are making big moves in midday trading:

• Elastic – Shares surged about 15% after the software company topped Wall Street’s expectations for its fiscal second-quarter results. Elastic posted adjusted earnings of 59 cents per share on revenue of $365 million. Meanwhile, analysts surveyed by LSEG expected it to earn 38 cents per share on revenue of $357 million.
• Reddit – The stock fell 6% after Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that Advance Magazine Publishers is looking to establish a credit facility using as much as $1.2 billion of its stake in Reddit.
• Super Micro Computer – Shares moved more than 11% higher, extending its more than 15% gain in the previous session. The stock has been having a monster rally this week, with shares up more than 73% week to date, on the heels of the company naming BDO as its new auditor and providing plans to the Nasdaq about how it’ll remain in compliance with the exchange’s rules.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

Leisure and entertainment ETF hits 3-year high

The Invesco Dynamic Leisure and Entertainment ETF (PEJ) touched its highest point in around three years on Friday.

The fund touched $53.62 in Friday morning trading. That marks its most expensive going back to November 2021.

TripAdvisor led the ETF higher with a gain of more than 2%. Monarch Casino & Resort and Texas Roadhouse followed, with both jumping more than 1.5%

On the other hand, Booking Holdings was among a handful of stocks restricting gains. The online travel booking platform slid around 0.7% in the session, making it the worst performer in the ETF.

The fund has rallied more than 27% in 2024.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

Cboe to launch cash-settled bitcoin options

The derivatives universe around bitcoin is continuing to expand.

Cboe Global Markets announced Friday that it will launch cash-settled index options on the price of bitcoin starting in December. The options will be based on a Cboe Bitcoin U.S. ETF Index.

“We expect the unique benefits of cash-settlement, combined with the availability of various index sizes and FLEX options, will give customers more flexibility in their trading strategies,” Rob Hocking, global head of product innovation at Cboe, said in a press release.

The announcement comes after options on bitcoin ETFs began trading this week.

— Jesse Pound

Robinhood legal chief says he isn’t interested in SEC chair

Robinhood‘s chief legal officer waved off rumors that he is going to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next Securities and Exchange Commission chair.

Dan Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner, was reportedly a front-runner to take over the agency when Gary Gensler steps down in January. Gallagher told CNBC that he “made it clear to the relevant people that I’m not interested in being considered for the role.”

He pointed to Robinhood’s recent stock performance and said Wall Street analysts are appreciating the value and potential of the online brokerage firm. Gallagher said he “can have more of an impact on financial markets from Robinhood in some ways than I could even if I went back into the SEC.”

— Kate Rooney

Bitcoin notches a new high above $99,000

Bitcoin inched to a new record Friday as investors waited with bated breath for it to hit $100,000.

The flagship cryptocurrency was last lower by less than 1% at $97,448.72, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier in the morning it rose as high as $99,525.19, after breaching the $99,000 level for the first time Thursday.

Coinbase was flat, while MicroStrategy gained 4%. Mara Holdings, which is the second-largest holder of bitcoin among public companies, was also flat.

— Tanaya Macheel

Dollar index surges to two-year high, on track for eight straight gains

The dollar index advanced to its highest level in roughly two years on Friday and was on pace for its eighth straight gain.

The dollar index hit a high of 108.071 before the opening bell, just slightly below the 108.44 level touched in November 2022. The dollar index has ticked up 0.73% so far this week.

— Brian Evans, Gina Francolla

Consumer sentiment edged lower after election, survey finds

Consumer sentiment in November moved lower following the presidential election but was still better than October, according to a closely watched gauge from the University of Michigan released Friday.

The last of three readings showed the sentiment index at 71.8, better than the 70.5 from October but down 1.3 points from the second reading. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 73.5.

“In a mirror image of November 2020 (see chart), the expectations index surged for Republicans and fell for Democrats this month, a reflection of the two groups’ incongruous views of how [President-elect Donald Trump’s] policies will influence the economy,” survey director Joanne Hsu said.

The survey also showed misgivings about inflation: The one-year outlook nudged lower to 2.6%, the lowest since December 2020, while the 5-year rose to 3.2%, tied for the highest since June 2008.

— Jeff Cox

Flash PMI readings for services and manufacturing rise in November

Activity in both the manufacturing and services sectors accelerated in November, according to surveys of purchase managers released by S&P Global on Friday.

The flash PMI reading for services moved up to 57.0, a two-point increase from October and the highest reading in 32 months. On the manufacturing side, the index nudged higher to 48.8, up slightly from October and the highest level in four months.

The manufacturing reading met the Dow Jones estimate while the services index was slightly better than the 55.0 forecast.

The indexes measure the percentage of companies reporting growth, so anything above 50 represents expansion.

— Jeff Cox

Stocks open little changed

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all traded just about 0.1% higher shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET.

— Alex Harring

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading:

• Intuit — Stock in the financial software firm pulled back about 3% after its earnings guidance for the current quarter missed analyst estimates. Intuit forecast second-quarter earnings of $2.55 to $2.61 per share, while analysts polled by FactSet were looking for a profit of $3.25 per share.
• Flutter Entertainment – Shares rose more than 1% after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a price target that reflects almost 20% upside from Thursday’s close. The bank cited stronger U.S. margins and share buybacks as catalysts for growth ahead.
• Gap — Shares of the clothing retailer surged more than 20% after the company upped its full-year outlook for the third time in 2024. Gap now expects sales to advance by 1.5% to 2%, compared with a previous outlook that said sales would be “up slightly” on the year.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Trump’s new AG pick good for tech, says TD Cowen

President-elect Donald Trump‘s new choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, is much better for tech platforms than his former pick, Matt Gaetz, according to TD Cowen.

Trump named Bondi his intended nominee Thursday evening, just hours after Gaetz withdrew from consideration. Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, is now a lobbyist working on online privacy issues, among other things, at Ballard Partners. The firm represents Google and Amazon.

After the Justice Department’s proposed remedies in the Google antitrust case on Thursday, a possible settlement now takes on “heightened importance,” TD Cowen policy analyst Paul Gallant wrote in a note Thursday.

“We view Ms. Bondi’s likely leadership of DOJ as a materially better starting point for a settlement with the Trump Administration than had Gaetz been confirmed,” he said. “We would make the same observation about a possible settlement with Apple, which DOJ sued for antitrust violations six months ago (case goes to trial in mid-2026).”

— Michelle Fox

Piper Sandler downgrades Sunrun, citing uncertain residential solar market conditions

Piper Sandler downgraded Sunrun, anticipating further cash generation uncertainty for the company under a higher-for-longer interest rate environment.

Analyst Kashy Harrison lowered her rating on the struggling solar panel and battery storage company to neutral from overweight. She also cut her price target by $12 to $11, which suggests 7.6% potential upside for the stock.

Sunrun’s shares have plunged nearly 48% this year, with losses piling as fears that President-elect Donald Trump could repeal the Inflation Reduction Act — which has supported tax credits to expand solar energy — have led to a downbeat outlook on solar stocks.

“Rates remain elevated, Republicans control the Presidency and Congress; as a result, equity performance has been dismal … Thus, while some curtailment is expected, we see a low probability of a hard landing on the IRA as it pertains to power supply (i.e. ITC/PTC) or manufacturing credits,” Harrison said. “If our base case expectation comes to fruition (commercial ITC remains; homeowner ITC repealed), we’d expect a volatile resi solar market moving forward.”

— Pia Singh

Stocks likely to rebound from early Friday losses, Vital Knowledge says

Don’t sweat the early losses in futures too much, advised Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.

“Stocks are getting hit in Europe and the US following some downbeat Eurozone flash PMI data, although the magnitude of the S&P futures pullback at 4amET is more a reflection of thin liquidity than extremely negative news, and thus it’s likely prices will rebound,” he said in a note.

— Fred Imbert

Gap, Ross Stores climb after earnings reports

Two retail stocks surged in after-hours trading following their quarterly reports.

Shares of Gap climbed 15% after the company beat estimates on the top and bottom lines and raised its full-year sales guidance. Ross Stores shares popped 7% after the company reported earnings per share of $1.48, ahead of the $1.40 projected by analysts, according to LSEG.

Check out more after-hours movers here.

— Jesse Pound

Nasdaq, Dow and S&P 500 on track for winning weeks

Wall Street is headed for its second positive week in three across the board, if the stock market holds up on Friday.

• The Nasdaq Composite is up 1.56% week to date
• The S&P 500 is up 1.33% week to date
• The Dow is up 0.98% week to date.

Additionally, Thursday’s 1.06% rally for the Dow was its best day since Nov. 6.

— Jesse Pound, Christopher Hayes

Texas Pacific Land to join S&P 500

Energy stock Texas Pacific Land is set to join the S&P 500 next week, with current constituent Marathon Oil being officially acquired by ConocoPhillips.

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the move as part of a series of index changes on Thursday evening. In corresponding moves, Mueller Industries will slide up to the S&P MidCap 400, and Atlas Energy Solutions will join the S&P SmallCap 600.

The moves will take effect prior to the open of trading on Nov. 26.

Texas Pacific Land, based in West Texas, has a market cap of around $35 billion.

— Jesse Pound

Stock futures open lower

Stock futures opened slightly lower on Thursday evening.

Nasdaq 100 futures saw the biggest move, falling about 0.2%. Dow and S&P 500 futures were down around 0.1%.

— Jesse Pound