Market News
Wall Street closed higher on Friday as growing expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut lifted investor sentiment. The Nasdaq Composite, the S&P 500, and the Dow ended in positive territory with U.S. markets closing early at 1 p.m. on Friday. The week finished positively, while the month saw modest losses.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.6%, or 289.30 points, to close at 47,716.42. Twenty-five components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory, and five ended in the negative. The major gainer of the Dow was Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN. The stock price of this e-commerce company rose 1.8%. Amazon currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7% to close at 23,365.69.
The S&P 500 gained 0.5%, or 36.48 points, to end at 6,849.09. Out of the 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, 10 ended in positive territory, while one was in negative territory. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE), the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) and the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) rose 1.3%, 0.6% and 0.8% respectively, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) fell 0.5%.
The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), decreased by 5% to 16.35.
Markets Rally on Fed Rate Cut Expectations
Market participants predict the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates to support economic growth because they hold optimistic views about the market. The market expects lower interest rates to drive up consumer and business spending and investment activities, which will boost economic performance.
Currently, 87.6% of market participants expect the Fed to trim interest rates by 25 basis points in the Dec. 10 meeting, according to the FedWatch tool. The central bank has performed two interest rate reductions during 2025 to achieve its economic goals.
Weekly Roundup
During the week, the Dow rose more than 3%, the S&P 500 gained nearly 4%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose by more than 4%.
Monthly Roundup
For the month, the S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, the Dow dipped 0.3%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.2%.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
