From Nasdaq:

The S&P 500 closed above 5,000 and the Nasdaq briefly above 16,000 Friday boosted by Nvidia and chip stocks as investors bet on artificial intelligence technology. Wall Street Journal reports Nvidia building a new unit for bespoke AI computing chips. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seeks to fund a chip building initiative to power AI.

AI infrastructure could see major demand as the earnings estimates for the S&P 500 exceed expectations and 81% of companies are beating estimates. 10 record highs so far this year for S&P. The Nasdaq is just 0.4% below the record high from Nov 2021.

S&P and Nasdaq posted their 5th straight weekly gain with the S&P adding 1.4%, the Nasdaq rising 2.3% and Dow climbing 0.04%. US monthly consumer prices rose tact warm, clouding expectations for Fed actions.

Fed’s focus is no longer on interest rate cuts. With mixed data clouding fed policy, investors await the January consumer prices data for more clues on when the Fed will cut borrowing costs. Cloudflare rallied 19.5% with an upbeat first-quarter forecast but PepsiCo fell 3.6% on sluggish revenue.

Regarding individual stocks, Cloudflare rallied 19.5% as it predicts an upbeat first-quarter revenue and profit. PepsiCo fell 3.6% on a shortfall in fourth-quarter revenue. Pinterest shares sank 9.5% after forecasting a lower first-quarter revenue. Overall, advancing issues far outnumbered decliners on both the NYSE and Nasdaq.

Lastly, information concerning the number of new 52-week highs and lows for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, and the estimated shares changing hands on U.S. exchanges.



Read more: US STOCKS-Megacaps rally pushes S&P 500 to first close above 5,000 milestone