On Friday, Wall Street’s primary indexes surged as many megacap growth stocks experienced gains following strong quarterly performances from Alphabet, propelling its market value beyond $2 trillion.
Simultaneously, an inflation report in line with expectations alleviated concerns about interest rate fluctuations.
Alphabet soared by 10.8% to reach a record peak after the announcement of its inaugural dividend, a $70 billion stock buyback, and surpassing estimates for first-quarter results.
This surge briefly pushed the search giant’s market capitalization over $2 trillion during intraday trading.
Further buoying market sentiment, Microsoft climbed 2% after exceeding Wall Street projections for third-quarter revenue and profit, attributed to advancements in AI adoption across its cloud services.
Additionally contributing to the market’s upward trajectory, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index demonstrated a 0.3% increase in March, aligning with economists’ forecasts.
When excluding the volatile food and energy components, the PCE price index saw a 0.3% uptick last month, in line with predictions. Annually, it reached 2.8%, slightly surpassing forecasts.
Steve Wyett, chief investment strategist at BOK Financial, commented, “This is a positive figure in the sense that it does not undermine the Federal Reserve’s confidence that inflation is trending in the right direction, yet it does not necessarily bolster their confidence that it will reach their 2% target consistently.”
Following the data release, money markets indicated an increased likelihood of a rate cut in September.
Strong earnings performances across various sectors throughout the week have bolstered Wall Street’s primary stock indexes, with the S&P 500 poised to break three consecutive weeks of losses, while the Nasdaq is set to end four consecutive weeks of declines.
According to LSEG data, adjusted blended earnings for the first quarter are anticipated to grow by 8.7% year-on-year, up from the 7.4% growth reported on Thursday.
As of 9:43 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 94.39 points, or 0.25%, to 38,180.19, the S&P 500 increased by 36.08 points, or 0.71%, to 5,084.50, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed by 207.74 points, or 1.33%, to 15,819.50.
