Positive Market Sentiment Ruled Wall Street After S&P 500 and Dow Hit New Highs On Friday

Barry Adams
02 Dec, 2024
New York City

Stock market indexes on Wall Street traded around the flatline as investors looked to extend gains of the previous week and month. 

Benchmark indexes, the Dow and the S&P 500 indexes, traded at new intraday and closing highs on Friday, setting the expectations for the market rally to continue. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks mega cap stocks, briefly traded above 45,000 for the first time ever. 

Wall Street indexes extended gains for the second week in a row, driven by post-election euphoria and positive economic data.

In a holiday-shortened trading week in the U.S., global investors digested a flood of economic news from Japan and Europe.

Last week, markets in Europe advanced, but political turmoil in France overshadowed trading sentiment, and weak economic growth kept pressure on the euro.

The prospect of a rate hike in Japan rose after Tokyo area inflation stayed above 2% and the yen strengthened sharply. 

In the week ahead on Wall Street, investors are looking forward to the release of the jobs report and JOLT report in the U.S.

Investors are estimating net new job growth to expand by 15,000 from 183,000 in October, the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.1%, and wage growth to slow to 0.3% from 0.4%.

 

U.S. Indexes and Treasury Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.1% to 6,040.79, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6% to 19,3332.73, and the Russell 2000 index inched higher 0.4% to 2,434.73. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged higher to 4.21%, 10-year Treasury notes inched lower to 4.21%, and 30-year Treasury bonds decreased to 4.30%.

WTI crude oil increased $0.21 to $68.91 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged up 3 cents to $3.31 a thermal unit.

Gold increased by $14.32 to $2,644.47 an ounce, and silver fell by $0.11 to $30.50. 

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, edged higher by 0.61 to 106.37.

 

Stock Movers 

Stellantis NV dropped 7.3% to $12.24 after chief executive Carlos Tavares resigned with immediate effect on Sunday. 

The company said "different views" between the board and Tavares were the reason for his departure. 

Tavares played a key role in integrating France-based PSA and Italy's Fiat and had been at the helm for nearly four years; however, the company had begun the search for Tavares' replacement as early as September, according to Ticker.com's sources in Paris. 

John Elkann, chairman of the board and heir and representative of the Agnelli family, will lead a special committee to finalize the appointment of the next leader of the company. 

Intel soared 4% to $25.01 after the company said chief executive Pat Gelsinger has retired. 

The advanced semiconductor chipmaker said David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus are interim co-CEOs.