Post by : Meena Ariff

Wall Street rounded off a tumultuous November positively, achieving its fifth straight day of gains. The S&P 500 increased by 0.5% during the shortened trading day on Friday, ending the month with a modest gain of 0.1%. The Dow Jones saw an uptick of 289 points (0.6%), while the Nasdaq rose 0.7% but faced a monthly decline of 1.5% due to losses in some prominent tech stocks.

Investor focus shifted towards the Federal Reserve, with heightened expectations for a potential interest rate cut at their upcoming December 10 meeting. Traders now foresee an 87% chance of a rate decrease, aiming to bolster a cooling job market, despite persistent inflation worries.

November presented a mixed bag for tech stocks. Nvidia dipped 1.8% on Friday, concluding the month with substantial losses, while Oracle and Palantir tumbled by 23% and 16% respectively. In contrast, Alphabet experienced a nearly 14% surge, sparked by its new Gemini AI model.

Post-Black Friday, retailers showcased varied performances. Macy’s slipped by 0.3%, while Kohl’s gained 1.4%. Specialty stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters saw increases of 2.9% and 0.7% respectively.

Investors also diversified into other sectors, with pharmaceutical leaders Eli Lilly and Merck enjoying gains exceeding 20% for the month. Travel giants such as Marriott and Expedia also exhibited strong performance.

Markets faced technical challenges earlier in the session when futures trading was suspended for hours due to an outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s data center. Treasury yields experienced a slight rise, with the 10-year yield arriving at 4.02%.

On the international stage, Europe noted slight advances, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 both increasing by 0.3%. Conversely, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2%, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.5% due to challenges in industrial production.

#Business News