The Dow Jones Industrial was up 0.34% at the close. and amounted to 40,003.59 points. The S&P 500 gained 0.12% at the end of the day. and amounted to 5,303.27 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.07%. and closed the session at 16,685.97 points. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap companies is down 0.14%. up to 2,093.4 points The VIX volatility index falls by 3.7%, to 11.96 points.
A combination of positive economic growth and slowing inflation
Stock markets completed a successful week in which all major US stock indices, but also the MSCI all-country, set new all-time highs. Since the beginning of the year, S&P and Nasdaq have gained over 11%, and DJI 6%. On Thursday, the Dow hit an intraday high of 40,051.05 points, above the psychologically important 40,000 level, before retreating, ending the day down 0.1%. The broad S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also finished slightly lower Thursday, although both also hit new all-time highs during the session. This week's gain helped push the three indexes into positive territory in the second quarter, despite a rocky start.
While concerns about the sustainability of the current rally have materialized on the part of some investors, Tom Hainlin believes the combination of positive economic growth and slowing inflation is the perfect incubator to continue providing fuel. “It's quite an optimistic setup, at least for the near future in 2024,” a senior investment strategist at US Bank Asset Management told CNBC. “We recognize that the valuation is a bit high compared to history, but so is earnings growth and earnings stability,” he added. The quotations of American companies support expectations of a soft landing of the local economy and the Fed winning the fight against inflation without major damage to GDP growth.
Fundamentally, the valuation of American shares is supported by relatively good results – 77%. S&P500 companies that reported results by May 10 exceeded forecasts compared to the average historical result of 67%. at this stage of the season. During Friday's session, 25 S&P 500 companies reached 52-week highs. These include: Tractor Supply, Walmart, Citigroup, Boston Scientific, Danaher, 3M, Motorola Solutions, Texas Instruments and DuPont.
Over 10 percent Reddit's values increased after the website announced an agreement with OpenAI, based on which ChatGPT will be able to use Reddit platform data to train an artificial intelligence language model. In turn, 19.7 percent GameStop shares lost. The computer game retailer announced a plan to sell shares and reported a decline in sales in the first quarter of the year. On the oil market, WTI contracts for June are increasing by approximately 1%. to USD 80.04 per barrel, and July Brent futures increase by 0.84%. up to USD 83.97/b.
