Friday Market Wrap: S&P 500 Posts Best Week Since June

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rallied on Thursday and Friday to close out its best week since June as investors cheered better-than-expected inflation data.

On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported the consumer price index gained 7.7% in October, down from 8.2% in September and below the 8% inflation economists were expecting. Core CPI inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 6.3%, below average economist estimates of a 6.5% gain.

The CPI report triggered a huge stock market rally on Thursday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 1,200 points and the Nasdaq up 7.4% on the day. The S&P 500 rallied 5.5% on Thursday, its best one-day performance since April 2020.

On Friday, the University of Michigan reported U.S. consumer sentiment dropped 8.7% on a monthly basis in November and is now down 18.8% from a year ago. Consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level since June, while consumers' inflation expectations for the next year ticked higher from 5% to 5.1%.

Related Link: US Consumer Sentiment Slips 8.7% In November: What It Means For The Markets

Popular cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday after competitor Binance walked away from buyout negotiations. The downfall of FTX sent Bitcoin BTC/USD prices plummeting to new 52-week lows below $16,000 on Thursday.

Bumpy Ride: LYFT Inc LYFT shares plunged 22% on Tuesday after the ridesharing company's third-quarter revenue and active riders fell short of analyst expectations.

In the week ahead, third-quarter earnings season continues with reports from Walmart Inc WMT on Tuesday, NVIDIA Corporation NVDA on Wednesday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR BABA on Thursday and JD.Com Inc JD on Friday.

Analysts are now projecting S&P 500 earnings will be down 1% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, according to FactSet.

Economic Numbers: Following the encouraging CPI reading, investors will get more key economic updates on Tuesday when Eurostat releases its preliminary third-quarter Eurozone GDP growth estimate and on Wednesday when the U.S. Census Bureau releases its October Retail Sales report.

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