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U.S. stocks were mostly rising in afternoon trading Friday, with the S&P 500 set for a fresh record high as megacap chip maker Nvidia Corp. extended its rally.
How stock indexes are trading
-
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
rose almost 90 points, or 0.2%, to around 39,159. -
The S&P 500
SPX
was up 4 points, or 0.1%, at 5,091, after rising as much as 0.5% earlier. -
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP
shed 45 points, or 0.3%, to 15,996.
For the week, the Dow was on track to gain 1.4%, the S&P 500 was heading for a 1.7% rise and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was on pace to advance 1.4%, according to FactSet data, at last check.
What’s driving markets
U.S. stocks were trading mostly higher on Friday afternoon, as Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
continued contributing to positive sentiment in the market after its blowout earnings results after the bell on Wednesday.
The chip maker “lived up to the hype and then some,” Matt Stucky, chief equity portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co., said in a phone interview Friday of the company’s latest quarterly earnings results.
There’s “insatiable demand” for Nvidia’s AI chips, said Stucky, and the recent surge in the megacap tech company’s stock price is “just a lift to the overall market.”
Shares of Nvidia were up more than 1% in afternoon trading Friday, adding to their 16.4% surge on Thursday as investors cheered the company’s quarterly earning results and guidance.
Read: Nvidia now worth $2 trillion, becoming only third U.S. company to hit that mark
On Thursday, the S&P 500 saw its biggest daily percentage increase since Jan. 6, while the Nasdaq logged its largest percentage gain since Feb. 2, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Most of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors were rising Friday afternoon, with only information technology, communication services, consumer discretionary and energy trading in the red, according to FactSet data, at last check.
Meanwhile, so-called Big Tech companies — which include Nvidia as well as Apple Inc.
AAPL,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
GOOG,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
and Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
—were trading mostly lower. Only Nvidia was posting gains on Friday afternoon in that group of seven stocks, FactSet data show, at last check.
Looking ahead, the U.S. economic calendar for next week includes an estimate of gross-domestic-product growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, and a reading on inflation in January from the personal-consumption expenditures price index.
So far, “the economy is really not slowing down all that much,” said Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial, by phone Friday. “Overall, I think that the economy is doing fine. That’s good for corporate profits.”
Read: UBS raises 2024 forecast for S&P 500 after ‘surge in AI investment’
Companies in focus
-
Warner Bros. Discovery shares
WBD,
-9.78%
tumbled after the company posted a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss. -
Meanwhile, Block Inc.’s stock
SQ,
+16.41%
surged after the company reported stronger-than-expected margins and bottom-line growth late Thursday. -
Carvana Co. shares
CVNA,
+32.36%
soared despite missing Wall Street’s earnings forecasts, as investors cheered the company reporting a rise in gross profit per unit sold. -
Intuitive Machines Inc.’s stock
LUNR,
+19.16%
rallied after the company’s Odysseus spacecraft reached the moon and started sending signals back to Earth. -
Intuit Inc.’s stock
INTU,
+0.53%
rose, reversing aftermarket losses from Thursday evening when the company reported earnings that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations. -
Sleep Number Corp. shares
SNBR,
+35.93%
jumped after the mattress maker posted a narrow-than-expected quarterly loss. -
Rivian Automotive Inc. shares
RIVN,
-10.70%
sank after a series of analyst downgrades and the company’s earnings miss on Wednesday.
Steve Goldstein contributed to this article.
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