Author: Echo Wang
(Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended the trading week near flat levels in a peaceful session on Friday, with indexes and the Dow posting weekly declines while the Nasdaq secured a fourth straight week of gains.
Broadcom (NASDAQ:) forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street expectations and predicts robust growth in demand for custom AI chips over the next few years. The bullish outlook sent the company’s shares up 24%, bringing the company’s market capitalization to over $1 trillion for the first time.
Chip stocks were mixed, with Broadcom rival Marvell (NASDAQ:) Technology rising 10.8% while artificial intelligence leader Nvidia (NASDAQ:) ended the session down 2.2%. But the semiconductor stock index added 3.2%.
U.S. Treasury yields rose overall, with benchmark yields hitting a three-week high.
“Right now, the interest rate sell-off is winning,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management in New York. “It’s only natural that value and income stocks fall when technology stocks rise.”
Technology stocks continued their gains, pushing the Nasdaq above 20,000 points for the first time on Wednesday. This escalate was further boosted by the release of the inflation report, which reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its meeting next week.
According to CME’s FedWatch Tool, trader bets on interest rate cuts at the December 17-18 central bank meeting are almost 97%. However, they indicate a chance for a break in January.
Down 86.06 points, or 0.20%, to 43,828.06, the S&P 500 lost 0.16 points, or 0.00%, to 6,051.09 and gained 23.88 points, or 0.12%. , to 19,926.72.
Wall Street took a breather last session after recent gains and some balmy economic data ahead of a Fed meeting that benchmarks the S&P 500 and Dow for weekly losses. However, the Nasdaq ended the week in positive territory.
U.S. stocks have hit multiple all-time highs this year, fueled by growing interest in ponderous tech companies benefiting from artificial intelligence trends.
Investor sentiment also improved after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, as markets expect his pro-business policies could escalate corporate profitability.
Among other changes, RH (NYSE:) rose 16.95% after the home furnishings retailer reported higher net revenue for the third quarter, while DR Horton fell 0.89% as JP Morgan downgraded its rating for construction company to “underweight”.
Declining issues outnumbered issues on the New York Stock Exchange by a 2.23 to 1 ratio. The NYSE recorded 100 novel highs and 141 novel lows.
The S&P 500 recorded 8 novel 52-week highs and 15 novel lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 novel highs and 199 novel lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.56 billion shares compared with the full-session average of 14.03 billion over the last 20 trading days.
