US markets end higher on Friday

02 Dec 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Friday. The strength on markets partly reflected ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showing a continued contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of November. The ISM said its manufacturing PMI came in at 46.7 in November, unchanged from October, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction. Street had expected the index to inch up to 47.6. Markets saw further upside even after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's called speculation about interest rate cuts premature during remarks at Spelman College.

Powell acknowledged recent signs of slowing price growth but said the Fed is committed to keeping monetary policy restrictive until officials are confident inflation is on a path to 2 percent. On the sectoral front, transportation stocks extended the strong upward move seen on Thursday, driving the Dow Jones Transportation Average up by 3.0 percent to a three-month closing high. Substantial strength also emerged among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. The index reached its best closing level in two months.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294.61 points or 0.82 percent to 36,245.5, Nasdaq surged 78.81 points or 0.55 percent to 14,305.03 and S&P 500 was up by 26.83 points 0.59 percent to 4,594.63.  


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