Shares rose on Friday and technology names continued their breathtaking run to crown a good start year, and the best first half for the Nasdaq Composite since 1983.
THE Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 285.18 points, or 0.84%, to close at 34,407.60. THE S&P500 climbed 1.23% to end at 4,450.38, and the Nasdaq Compound advanced 1.45% to settle at 13,787.92.
Mega-cap tech stocks responsible for a big piece 2023 market gains rose on Friday. Dominant artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia jumped 3.6%, taking its annual earnings to over 189%. netflix added about 2.9%, while Metaplatforms, Microsoft And Amazon increased by 1.9%, 1.6% and 1.9% respectively. Apple gained 2.3% to close above a $3 trillion market cap.
Somewhere else, Nike stocks bucked the general uptrend in the market. The clothing giant fell 2.7% after reporting a lower-than-expected quarterly profit.
Friday marked a pivotal day for investors, bringing the conclusion of the month, the second quarter and the first half. The last six months have seen 2022’s downed growth names make a broad comeback as the promise of artificial intelligence and hope for an end to the Federal Reserve’s rate campaign lifted major tech players to highs. amazing heights.
Despite these strong gains, some on Wall Street are expecting volatility in the second half and likely profit taking from investors who took advantage of the rally. This, coupled with changing technicals, could lead to sideways action or a slight pullback for the S&P, said Anna Han, equity strategist at Wells Fargo Securities.
“The techs tell us that this ubercap-led rally just got overextended,” she said. “It’s reached those overbought levels, and we think it’s time for this trade to take some kind of pause.”
This is where the main averages lie:
- For June: The S&P 500 gained 6.5% for its best monthly performance since October. The Nasdaq advanced 6.6%. Both indexes recorded a fourth consecutive positive month. The Dow climbed 4.6%, its best month since November.
- For the second quarter: The S&P 500 rose 8.3% for a third consecutive quarter of gains and its strongest quarterly gain since the fourth quarter of 2021. The Nasdaq jumped 12.8% for consecutive positive quarters. The Dow added 3.4% for a gaining third quarter.
- Year-to-date and first-half: The S&P 500 jumped 15.9% for its best first half since 2019. The Nasdaq jumped 31.7%, for its best first half since 1983. The Dow Jones at 30 shares added a modest gain of 3.8%.
All three major averages also scored winning weeks, gaining more than 2% each.
Wall Street also had another index of encourage inflation news as the core personal consumption expenditure price index, a closely watched indicator by the Federal Reserve, rose less than expected in May.
“This is great news on the fight against inflation,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner of Harris Financial Group. “If you don’t believe disinflation is happening, you’re not paying attention. The Fed was right to pause and must hold firm at these levels to avoid overcorrecting and causing an unnecessary recession to fight a beast that is now under control.”
—CNBC’s Chris Hayes contributed reporting.
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Correction: The S&P 500 was on track for its best first half since 2019. A previous release misrepresented the year.
