Stock Market News for Dec 1, 2023
U.S. stocks ended mostly higher on Thursday, with the Dow recording its highest close since January 2022, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 registered their best monthly gains since July 2022 as fresh data showed inflation cooled further in October. The Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory, while the Nasdaq edged slightly lower.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) advanced 1.5% or 520.47 points to finish at 35,950.89 points, recording its highest close since January 13, 2023.
The S&P 500 gained 0.4% or 17.22 points, to end at 4,567.80 points. Consumer staples, industrials, healthcare and financial stocks were the best performers.
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) and the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) gained 1% and 1.1%, respectively. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) and Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) rose 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively. Nine of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.2% or 32.27 points to close at 14,226.22 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.46% to 12.92. A total of 13.22 billion shares were traded on Thursday, higher than the last 20-session average of 10.55 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.62-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Inflation Eases Further
All three major indexes recorded their best monthly gains in nearly a year as the Wall Street rally continued on the last day of November. The Dow surged ahead of the closing bell on Thursday to clinch its biggest daily percentage gain in the past four weeks.
The blue-chip index not only ended the month with gains but also recorded its highest close for the year. Leading the rally was cloud software giant Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) which surged 9.4% after the company reported an earnings beat.
Salesforces reported third-quarter 2023 earnings of $2.11 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 2.06 per share. Salesforce has a Zacks Rank #3 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Thursday’s rally came amid impressive economic data that showed inflation continued to ease in October. Data released on Thursday showed that core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), which strips out the volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.5% year over year in October compared with 3.7% in September. Month over month core PCE increased 0.2% in October.
Headline inflation came in flat month over month in October, while year over year it increased 3%.
The 10-year Treasury yield which crossed the 5% mark in October retreated in November. However, it inched marginally higher on Thursday to close at 4.34%. Tech stocks, which led the rally in November took a breather as the month came to a close. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) fell 2.9%. Also, Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) declined 1.7%.
Economic Data
In other economic data released on Thursday, personal income increased 0.2% in October. Also, personal spending increased 0.2%.
The Labor Department said that jobless claims totaled 218,000 for the week ending Nov 25, an increase from the previous week’s revised level of 211,000 from 209,000. The four-week moving average was 220,000, an increase of 500 from the previous week’s revised average of 220,500.
Continuing claims came in at 1,927,000, an increase of 86,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,841,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,865,750 an increase of 250 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,837,000.
Monthly Roundup
For the month, the Dow gained 8.9%, snapping its three-month losing streak. The S&P 500 also closed out with an 8.9% gain. The Nasdaq jumped 10.7% in November. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded their biggest monthly gains since July 2022.
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