Stocks, Gold, Bonds Rally Further, Dollars Tumbles As Traders Anticipate Fed Cuts: What's Driving Markets Friday?

Kicking off the new month, Wall Street continued its strong November momentum, with major U.S. stocks rallying on Friday.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq indices are all set for their fifth consecutive week of positive movement. Investor optimism further improved, driven by growing speculation of Fed rate cuts in 2024, despite Fed Chair Powell’s cautious remarks.

The ISM manufacturing activity slowed more than predicted in November, contributing to a marked drop in Treasury yields.

According to CME Group Fed Watch tool, fed futures are currently anticipating the first interest rate cut in March 2024, with a probability of 60%. Furthermore, speculators are factoring in a total of five rate cuts by December 2024, with a probability of 72%.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) fell 0.4%, partially erasing Thursday’s gain. Gold, as tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, continued to shine, with the precious metal surging by 1.5% to reach $2,070 per ounce, coming tantalizingly close to its all-time highs.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq 100	+0.22%	15,984.29
S&P 500 Index	+0.61%	4,597.30
Dow Industrials	+0.79%	36,202.42
Russell 2000	+0.24%	1,853.38

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.5% to $458.84.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA gained 0.7% to $362.69. 
• The Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ edged 0.29% higher to $390.00.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rallied 2.5% to $184.17, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Chart Of The Day: S&P 500 Index Notches 5th Week Of Gains, Tests July 2023’s Highs

Sector, Industry ETF Performance

Each S&P 500’s equity sector traded in the green on Friday. Real estate and materials, as tracked by the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE and the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLB, were the notable gainers, up 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively.

Technology underperformed, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK inching only 0.1% higher. Also the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC was a laggard, flat for the day.

Industry-wise, regional banks, as tracked by the SPDR Regional Banking ETF KRE rallied 4.7%. Semiconductors, as monitored through the VanEck Semiconductor ETF SMH, were unchanged for the day.

Stocks In Focus

• Dell Technologies Inc. DELL fell about 5% following its quarterly results announcement.
• Marvell Technology, Inc. MRVL fell about 6% in reaction to its earnings.
• Other stocks moving on earnings news are PagerDuty, Inc. PD (down 2%, Ulta Beauty, Inc. ULTA (up about 11%), and UiPath Inc. PATH (up over 26%).
• Pfizer Inc. PFE fell over 4%, hitting lows last seen in late March 2020, as the healthcare giant announced to halt trials of its weight loss drug, danuglipron, due to reported side effects among participants.
• SoFi Technologies Inc. SOFI rallied 7% after Cathie Wood’s decision to purchase $1.5 million worth of SOFI shares.
• Tesla, Inc. TSLA fell 1% following lukewarm reception to its Cybertruck following Thursday’s delivery event.

Commodities, Other Global Equity Markets And Crypto

The United States Oil Fund, LP USO, which tracks the performance of the light sweet crude, was 0.6% lower.

European equity indices ended Friday positively. The SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF FEZ rose 0.7%.

Bitcoin BTC/USD was 2.8% higher to $38,781, while Ethereum ETH/USD rose 1.9% to $2,093.

Shanthi Rexaline contributed to this report.

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