The stock market wrapped up a blockbuster week with the major indexes at fresh closing highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 172 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 was up 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7%. All three built on yesterday’s record closes. Despite the gains, a majority of S&P 500 stocks actually closed lower.
The Russell 2000 closed down 0.8% from its record close from Thursday.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note rose to 3.58%, while the 10-year yield rose to 4.14%.
“We have warned that after the Fed ease on Wednesday to watch the direction of long duration bonds, they are deteriorating,” wrote Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities, referencing the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by a quarter point. “Technicals do not look good.”
There wasn’t much data for Wall Street to digest. Instead, the momentum from Wednesday’s interest-rate cut propelled markets to fresh highs.
“We’re seeing broad activity across the desk, with average volumes up ~10%,” writes Mizuho analyst Daniel O’Regan. “In [technology, media and telecom], we remain 2-to-1 better to buy, despite the pullback in [semiconductors]. IT Services are showing renewed weakness, tied to H1B visa-related headlines.”
President Donald Trump also spoke on the phone with China’s Xi Jinping. The two leaders said they would meet at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea in late October.
“We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Traders mostly ignored news that the Senate blocked a bill meant to avert a government shutdown, with current government spending extending through Sept. 30.
It was the third Friday of September, which is a quarterly triple-witching day. That just means stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options all expire on the same day. The event can lead to higher trading volumes and wacky market moves, though stocks were fairly steady for most of the afternoon.