The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has officially closed at a record high, ending Friday's trading up nearly 59 points, closing at 4,839.81. It's the first record close for the index since January 2022. Both the Dow (^DJI) and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) ended the day more than 1% higher as well.
Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre and Josh Lipton break down the market close.
Video Transcript
JARED BLIKRE: Let's get a quick check of the markets here with only 25 seconds left and looks like the Dow up about 1 percentage point exactly. NASDAQ composite up 1.64%. S&P 500 up over 1% to 4,837.64.
And guess what, guys? That's going to be a record. It's been three years or two years in the making, S&P 500 finally hits a closing record high today.
JOSH LIPTON: It is an amazing chart because we-- I mean, obviously, 2023 ends, we rip in Q4, right? And we end in, what, 24% for the SPX. Then we got it chopped around to start the year.
JARED BLIKRE: Yes.
JOSH LIPTON: Kind of a pause, took a bit of a breather. You saw some people make maybe some booking, some profits off what had been some incredible gains now though perhaps getting back in and buying those tech names.
JARED BLIKRE: Yeah, and you know, it's interesting to think, two years ago, S&P 500 top tick for the entire year. So I think it was the very first trading day of the year that was the record high and then it was down from there. And then just thinking about how we're coming into this year after a really surprisingly bullish year, we've had some bearish inklings in the month of January.
Santa Claus rally was negative. First five days of January was negative. If the month of January itself ends negative, that portends red for the entire year with a decent-- a decent statistical probability. But you know maybe the S&P 500 is going to turn things around for everybody.
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah, it is true because we have many bulls that we talk to who said you know when they look at 2024, why were they positive, why were they constructive is because, well, the Fed-- I mean, I don't know how many strategists we heard this from. This story kind of went, the Fed's going to cut early, they're going to cut often, and the rally is going to broaden. And now though, actually, you see, as you were talking about earlier in the show, Jared, people may be getting a little skeptical of how early they're going to cut and how often. And in fact, they love tech.
JARED BLIKRE: Yes, well, it's not mutually exclusive either. But I personally don't see the Fed cutting until we see a recession on the horizon. And that's not even-- that's not anything I expect to see this particular year.
Source : Yahoo Finance / Jan 19, 2024