US markets end mostly higher on Friday

16 Dec 2023 Evaluate

The US markets, after showing strong performance the past several sessions, turned volatile to end mostly higher on Friday. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow reached another new record closing high. Optimism about the outlook for interest rates has contributed to the recent strength on Wall Street, although hopes for near-term interest rate cuts were partly offset by comments from New York Federal Reserve President John Williams. Williams reportedly said the Fed is not ‘really talking about rate cuts right now’ and is focused on whether monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive to ensure inflation comes back down to 2 percent. 

On the economic data front, the Federal Reserve released a report showing a modest rebound in U.S. industrial production in the month of November. The report said industrial production rose by 0.2 percent in November after slumping by a downwardly revised 0.9 percent in October. Street had expected industrial production to climb by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month. The rebound in industrial production came as manufacturing output increased by 0.3 percent in November after plunging by 1.2 percent in October following the resolution of strikes at several major automakers.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.81 points or 0.15 percent to 37,305.16 and Nasdaq surged 52.36 points or 0.35 percent to 14,813.92, while S&P 500 was down by 0.36 points 0.01 percent to 4,719.19.

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