Stocks were seen rallying on Friday as the indexes secured yet another week of strong gains. These gains in the indexes were seen just after the day there was a jump in bond yields after traders and investors digested the more hawkish tone from the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. While analysing the equity markets performance on 10th November 2023, it was seen that tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite saw an increase of over ~2%, which was the index’s best day since May 26, while benchmark S&P 500 went up by ~1.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an increase of ~1.1%, or ~400 points. All 3 indexes are now at their highest level since they were seen in mid-September.
Strong positive movements on Friday were seen despite the fresh economic data showing American consumer continues to feel worse regarding the state of the US economy with projections for long-run inflation rising up to the level which has not been seen since 2011. Preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for November from University of Michigan exhibited that the index came in at ~60.4, which was below ~63.7 that was expected by economists. This month’s reading was the lowest for the measure since the month of May. Apart from this, Friday’s number exhibited the 4th straight month of declines.
Despite slight improvement in both the current and expected personal finances in November, the long-run economic outlook saw a decline of ~12% mainly because of growing concerns regarding the negative effects of increased interest rates. Experts believe that ongoing battle in Gaza and Ukraine impacted the sentiments of the consumers too.
While overall equity markets performance on 10th November 2023 was positive, sector-wise, all the 11 sectors of S&P 500 index ended positive on Friday, with technology sector outperforming, as the index saw an increase of ~2.6%. Microsoft ended at its all-time high during Friday’s session and closed higher by ~2.5%. Apple and Meta climbed by more than 2% each, with Alphabet gaining ~1.8%.
Experts view that Friday’s upward movement was mainly because the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was around flatline. This was indeed a reversal from Thursday’s action during which rate on 10-year climbed by over ~10 basis points. Increase in yields was after the unsatisfactory response seen in Treasury Department bond auction. Apart from this, unfavourable comments from the US Fed Chairman triggered the sell-off on Thursday.
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