US stock market soars to new heights

The stock market reached fresh record highs on Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 marking their best week in a year following Donald Trump’s election victory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 259.65 points, or 0.59 per cent, closing at 43,988.99. During the session, the blue-chip index briefly surpassed 44,000 for the first time in its history. The S&P 500 rose 0.38 per cent, ending at 5,995.54, after briefly crossing the 6,000 mark. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed slightly, adding just 0.09 per cent to close at 19,286.78, although it also set an intraday record high.

All three indices finished the week at record closing levels.

Among the S&P 500 sectors, most finished higher, with Utilities leading the way, up 1.79 per cent, while Materials lagged, closing 0.91 per cent lower.

The rally was driven by a strong performance across the market, spurred by a sharp surge on Wednesday following Trump’s win. The S&P 500 rose 4.66 per cent for the week, while the Dow increased by 4.61 per cent. Both indices recorded their best week since November 2023. The Nasdaq outpaced both, climbing 5.74 per cent, and the small-cap Russell 2000 surged 8.57 per cent.

Stocks linked to Trump performed particularly well on Friday. Tesla, which saw strong backing from Trump’s campaign, rose 8.2 per cent, extending its streak of positive sessions to four. The company’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion. Shares of Axon Enterprises, which specializes in law enforcement technology, jumped more than 28 per cent after the company raised its full-year revenue forecast. Trump Media also saw a 15 per cent rise in its stock after the president-elect confirmed he had no plans to sell his shares in the company.

In addition, stocks were buoyed by the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point on Thursday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism about the economy during a post-meeting press conference.

While concerns over high stock market valuations linger, the strength of last week’s rally has reinforced optimism that there may still be room for further gains as the year draws to a close.

Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.4 per cent fall.

Currency

One Australian dollar at 7.35am was buying 65.84 US cents.

Commodities

Gold lost 0.41 per cent. Silver fell 1.27 per cent. Copper dropped 2.83 per cent. Oil fell 2.74 per cent.

Figures around the globe

European markets closed lower. London’s FTSE lost 0.84 per cent, Frankfurt fell 0.76 per cent, and Paris closed 1.17 per cent lower.

Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.30 per cent , while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.07 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.53 per cent.

On Friday, the Australian share market closed 0.84 per cent higher at 8295.

Ex-Dividends
Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) is paying 10.9782 cents unfranked
Naos Smlcap Com Ltd (ASX:NSC) is paying 1.25 cents fully franked
Naos Ex-50 (ASX:NAC) is paying 1.5 cents fully franked
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) is paying 260 cents 35 per cent franked

Dividends payable
Imperial Pacific Ltd (ASX:IPC)
London City Equities Ltd (ASX:LCE)

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, CNBC, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap, Marketech.

Disclaimer

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