US markets end higher on Friday

11 Dec 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Friday after a report released by the University of Michigan showed a significantly bigger than expected improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of December. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index surged to 69.4 in December from 61.3 in November. Street had expected the index to inch up to 62.0. The jump by the headline index came as current economic conditions index shot up to 74.0 in December from 68.3 in November, while the index of consumer expectations spiked to 66.4 from 56.8. The report also showed a sharp pullback in year-ahead inflation expectations, which plunged to 3.1 percent in December from 4.5 percent in November.

Year-ahead inflation expectations are now at their lowest level since March 2021 and sit just above the 2.3-3.0 percent range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic. Meanwhile, employment in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of November, according to a highly anticipated report released by the Labor Department. The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 199,000 jobs in November after rising by 150,000 jobs in October. Street had expected employment to climb by 180,000 jobs. On the sectoral front, Computer hardware stocks turned in a strong performance on the day, resulting in a 1.7 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Significant strength was also visible among financial stocks, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index climbing by 1.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.49 points or 0.36 percent to 36,247.87, Nasdaq surged 63.98 points or 0.45 percent to 14,403.97 and S&P 500 was up by 18.78 points 0.41 percent to 4,604.37.

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