Wall Street gave up some gains on Friday, but still had its best week this year, with tech stocks leading big gains across major indexes.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1% from its all-time high to close at 5,234.18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8% to $39,475.90, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2% to $16,428.82, a new all-time high.
Chipmaker Nvidia's stock rose 3.12% to settle at $942.89 per share. Alphabet's Class “C” shares rose 2.04% to close at $151.77.
Micron Technology shares rose 14% on Thursday, ending the week slightly higher after the company's second-quarter profit beat market expectations on the back of a surge in artificial intelligence deployments.
Apple shares closed 0.53% higher on Friday, after falling earlier this week in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice accusing the company of monopolizing the smartphone market.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in the District of New Jersey, the Justice Department said Apple used its market power to extract more money from consumers, publishers and others.
Shares of electric car maker Tesla fell 1.15% to $170.83 on the last day of trading this week. The company's shares have lost about a third of their value this year due to slowing growth in demand for electric vehicles.
Reddit stock rose 48% on its first day of trading in New York on Thursday, before settling down 8.8% at $46 a share.
Meanwhile, global financial markets received support from the Swiss central bank's surprise interest rate cut on Thursday.
The move signaled that major central banks may take their own action on interest rates rather than waiting for instructions from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
“Now, if Switzerland was able to form an Axis party, it was because Swiss inflation made it easier to fight inflation.” [Swiss National Bank] That's because of the traditionally strong franc,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
“But the fact that the Swiss jumped into the sea raised hopes that others would join 'soon',” she added.
Goldman Sachs Research expects the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England and Bank of Canada to begin cutting interest rates in June.
Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve kept its target interest rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%, but said it expects to cut rates three times this year.
“The committee does not believe it is appropriate to lower the target range until there is greater confidence that inflation is on a sustained path toward 2%,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said.
Goldman Sachs said the U.S. economy remains poised for a soft landing, meaning a return to 2% inflation without a recession.
“Recent growth and employment data reinforce economists' view that the economy's supply-demand imbalance is easing,” the investment bank added.
Updated: March 23, 2024, 8:58 a.m.
