Traders are working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 31, 2024, the last trading day of the year.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Stocks closed higher on Friday as Wall Street recovered from a rocky start to the new year.
of S&P500 It rose 73.92 points (1.26%) to close at 5,942.47. Dow Jones Industrial Average It advanced 339.86 points (0.8%) to end the day at 42,732.13. of Nasdaq Composite It rose 340.88 points (1.77%) to close at 19,621.68.
Tech stocks were a bright spot in the market on Friday. Semiconductor giant Nvidia rose 4.7%, and server maker Super Microcomputer rose 10.9%.
These stocks could benefit from continued spending on artificial intelligence, as do Constellation Energy and Vistra, whose shares rose 4% and 8.5%, respectively. Microsoft announced Friday that it will invest $80 billion in AI-enabled data centers in fiscal year 2025. And power producers are also encouraged by this trend.
Friday's bull market was wide-ranging, but some of the best performers were big winners in last year's bull market.
“The long-term growth drivers that have driven earnings growth and market gains over the past two years remain strong and will continue to drive earnings growth,” said Jeremiah Buckley, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors. It will continue to drive the increase.” on CNBC's “Squawk on the Street.”
Friday's gains ended a five-day losing streak for the Nasdaq and S&P 500, but it wasn't enough to make the major averages the winners of the week. The S&P 500 fell 0.48% and the Dow ended the week down 0.60%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.51%.
The stock's weakness also means that the “Santa Claus” rally, in which stocks rise during the last five business days of one year and the first two business days of the next year, did not materialize. Although the market cooled down in the final weeks of 2024, averages are still not far from all-time highs after a strong year for Wall Street.
“In general, the last four weeks have been very difficult, so there are many days when people move to the sidelines. And the fact that we don't see that today probably means this is an orderly type of consolidation. It's not the beginning of some kind of incredibly difficult period,” Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide Financial, told CNBC.
News coming out of Washington, D.C., spurred moves in individual stocks on Friday. U.S. Steel shares fell 6.5% after President Joe Biden said he would block a takeover bid by Nippon Steel. liquor and beer inventory Molson Coors fell 3.4% after the U.S. military secretary issued an advisory regarding cancer risks related to alcohol consumption.
