The S&P 500 stabilised on Friday after hitting another record as investors wrapped the week on a high note.
The S&P 500 inched higher by 0.03% to close at 5,088.80. Earlier Friday, the broad market index broke above 5,100 for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 62.42 points, or 0.16%, also reaching a fresh record and closing at an all-time high of 39,131.53. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.28% to close at 15,996.82, but had notched a fresh 52-week high earlier in the session.
All three major averages registered winning weeks. The S&P 500 advanced 1.66%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.4% this week. The Dow is up 1.3% for the period.
Wall Street is coming off a monster day as Nvidia shares roared on strong quarterly results, leading the chipmaker to briefly surpass a $2 trillion valuation. On Thursday, the S&P 500 had its best day since January 2023, while the Nasdaq Composite popped nearly 3% for its best session since February 2023. The 30-stock Dow gained about 1.2%.
On the corporate earnings front, Block surged 16.1% after fourth-quarter revenue surpassed Wall Street estimates. Carvana climbed 32.1% after the used car retailer said it expects retail units to grow in 2024.
Looking ahead to the Australian landscape, Coles will reveal its profit report on Tuesday, Woodside will report its annual result also on Tuesday, and insurers Suncorp and NIB are due to release their interim numbers on Monday.
In addition to the earnings reports, Australian retail sales data for January is expected to be released on Thursday, showing a rebound after a December decline. Furthermore, CoreLogic will release house price data for February on Friday, projecting a gain in the median house price across eight capital cities.
Futures
The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.1 per cent gain.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 7.40am was buying 65.63 US cents.
Commodities
Gold added 0.93 per cent. Silver gained 0.81 per cent. Copper lost 0.37 per cent. Oil dropped 2.70 per cent.
Figures around the globe
European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE added 0.28 per cent, Frankfurt also gained 0.28 per cent, and Paris gained 0.70 per cent.
Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei was closed on Fridayt, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.10 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.55 per cent..
On Friday, the Australian share market closed 0.42 per cent higher at 7,643.59.
Ex-dividends
Ansell Limited (ASX:ANN) is paying 25.2139 cents unfranked
Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX:AZJ) is paying 9.7 cents 60 per cent franked
Codan Limited (ASX:CDA) is paying 10.5 cents fully franked
Contact Energy Ltd (ASX:CEN) is paying 12.8169 cents unfranked
Domino Pizza Enterpr (ASX:DMP) is paying 55.5 cents unfranked
HMC Capital Limited (ASX:HMC) is paying 6 cents unfranked
Hansen Technologies (ASX:HSN) is paying 5 cents 46 per cent franked
Humm Group Limited(ASX:HUM) is paying 0.75 cents fully franked
Infomedia Ltd (ASX:IFM) is paying 2.2 cents fully franked
McGrath Ltd (ASX:MEA) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) is paying 26.7953 cents unfranked
Winton Land (ASX:WTN) is paying 0.516 cents unfranked
Dividends payable
Waypoint REIT Ltd (ASX:WPR)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
