Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, Nov. 6, 2024.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced on Friday as the major U.S. averages headed for weekly gains.
The blue-chip Dow gained 258 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 added 0.3%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite sat near flat, weighed down by slides of more than 2% and 1% in Nvidia and Alphabet, respectively.
All three major averages are on track to end the week higher by more than 1%. That marks a turn from last week, when Wall Street’s postelection rally stalled.
“Investors are rotating out of the previous high flyers of large-cap communication services and technology and into other cyclical sectors of consumer discretionary, industrials, and financials, as well as mid- and small-cap stocks,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “Drivers continue to be the traditional end-of-election-year rally, in which all sizes, styles, and sectors within the S&P 1500 rose in price.”
Shares of Gap jumped more than 8% after the company beat earnings estimates and hiked its full-year sales guidance. However, Intuit slid more than 4% even after its quarterly report exceeded expectations on the top and bottom lines.
Elsewhere, investors kept an eye on bitcoin as it neared the long-awaited milestone of $100,000. Small-cap stocks have also performed well this week, with the Russell 2000 climbing more than 1% in Friday’s session and on track to finish the week up by more than 3%.