Stocks Level Off, S&P 500 Nears Best Week Of 2024, NVIDIA Rallies For 11th Week, Bitcoin Sinks: What's Driving Markets Friday?

Stocks slightly retreated during New York’s morning session on Friday, following another robust week of gains fueled by a dovish Federal Reserve meeting, which underscored Chair Jerome Powell‘s readiness to initiate interest rate cuts this year.

The S&P 500 remained flat for the day but boasted a 2.3% increase for the week, marking its most significant weekly gains since December 2023, holding above 5,200 points.

The Dow Jones dipped by 0.5% on Friday but maintained a 2.2% increase for the week, also heading towards its strongest weekly performance for the year so far.

Tech stocks saw marginal gains, notably Nvidia Corp. NVDA, which surged over 3% and extended its rally for the 11th consecutive week and achieved a 90% year-to-date gain.

As Treasury yields declined, bond prices rose, with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT increasing by 0.9%.

Bitcoin BTC/USD experienced a 3% loss for the day, while gold saw a decrease of 0.8%.

Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	Chg %
Nasdaq 100	18,341.96	0.1%
S&P 500	5,241.56	0.0%
Dow Jones	39,578.06	-0.5%
Russell 2000	2,070.86	-1.0%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was flat at $521.99, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA fell 0.5% to $395.91 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ inched 0.2% higher to $446.61, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK was the top performer for the day, up 0.3%, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE was the laggard, down 1.2%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

• Nike Inc. NKE plummeted by more than 6% following the company’s announcement projecting a decline in revenue for the first half of fiscal 2025.
• FedEx Corp. FDX rose over 7% following the announcement of fiscal Q3 earnings that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, coupled with the board’s approval of a new $5 billion buyback program.
• Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU plummeted nearly 15% despite the company reporting upbeat earnings results for its fourth quarter, as investors reacted to a softer guidance.
• Nkarta Inc. NKTX was down 29% after several analysts cut its stock price target.

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Image generated using artificial intelligence with Midjourney.