The S&P 500 jumped to a new record high on Friday as the broad rally saw investors ignore worsening COVID-19 infection numbers and instead believe in hopes for potential vaccines.
The S&P 500 index rose 1.4%, recovering from its losses in Thursday’s session thanks to energy and financial stocks that are tied to the vaccine rotation story.
Technology stocks, the “work from home” winners, trailed
For the week US shares rose 2.2%, Eurozone shares surged 6.4% and Japanese shares rose 4.4%. Chinese shares were the exception down 0.5%. Australia shares rose sharply again with a 3.5%
The S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow had their second straight weekly gains, and their best two-week runs since April, while the tech-skewing Nasdaq ended the session below last Friday’s close.
The S&P 500 has rallied just under 10% since the start of last week thanks to optimism that a vaccine will get the pandemic under control next year.
But oil prices slid as Libyan output rose and investors worried the resurgent pandemic could hurt global demand. Gold rose, bond yields dipped and copper rose.
Better than expected results from Cisco Systems and Walt Disney helped send Wall Street’s three major stock indexes higher.
The Dow rose 399.64 points, or 1.37%, to end 29,479.81, the S&P 500 was up 48.14 points, or 1.36%, to 3,585.15 and the Nasdaq ended 119.70 points, or 1.02% higher, to 11,829.29.
The S&P 500 was up 2.2% for the week and the Dow saw a 4% weekly gain as the value rotation idea survived the week intact and with room to run.
But Nasdaq fell 0.6% for the week as investors took profits in technology stocks, which have benefited from a stay-at-home environment and looked elsewhere to put their profits.
European stocks ended Friday flat as rising fears of economic damage from the pandemic offset recent vaccine optimism. Still, the Stoxx 600 index notched its second straight week of gains.
