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Market Recap: Stocks rise but snap weekly winning streak

Dow Jones Newswires ·  Nov 12, 2021 21:15  · Headlines

Major U.S. stock indexes rose Friday but finished the week with slim losses, snapping a five-week winning streak.

The $S&P 500 index(.SPX.US)$ rose 33.58 points, or 0.7%, to 4682.85 Friday. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ rose 179.08 points, or 0.5%, to 36100.31. The tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ advanced 156.68 points, or 1%, to 15860.96.

All three benchmarks closed near their highs for the day but ended the week with losses of less than 1%.

The S&P fell 0.3% this week, interrupting a streak of gains that kicked off when U.S. companies began to report strong earnings in mid-October. The Dow and Nasdaq slipped 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively, for the week.

Stocks retreated after data showed inflation rose to a three-decade high in October and broadened to an array of goods and services. Investors have been focused on whether worker shortages will keep pushing wages higher, which could feed back into inflation. Fresh data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy has had more than 10 million open jobs since June. The so-called quits rate was 3% in September, a record.

Corporate executives have also been citing inflation on earnings calls -- the term has cropped up on calls of 285 companies in the third quarter, the most since at least 2010, according to FactSet.

This fall's stock rally included the S&P 500's longest run of record highs since 1997. It was driven by expectations that central banks would keep rates at low levels, said Edward Park, chief investment officer at Brooks Macdonald. "The more we get these very high CPI prints the more that is brought into question," he said, referring to the consumer-price index.

Signs that the flare-up in inflation will last longer than central bankers had forecast prompted traders to bet the Federal Reserve would raise borrowing costs by summer. Traders in federal-funds futures have been assigning a more-than 70% probability to a rate rise by June, according to CME Group, up from just over 50% a week ago.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 1.583% Friday, from 1.451% last week, the biggest one-week yield gain in around a month. Yields rise as bond prices fall. The yield on the two-year Treasury note, which is typically more sensitive to expectations for monetary policy, rose to 0.522% this week and finished its largest one-week yield gain since October 2019.

Investors stepped back into the stock market toward the end of the week, stoking a rally in major indexes. Some investors said they remained optimistic about the economy despite a recent stretch of turbulence and high inflation figures.

We do believe that there's still a fair amount of gas in the tank economically

-Giorgio Caputo, a portfolio manager at J O Hambro Capital Management

Investors were focused on electric-vehicle makers in trading throughout the week, and there have been big swings in those companies.

$Lordstown Motors(RIDE.US)$ dropped $1.21, or 18%, to $5.68 Friday after the company reported a loss for the third quarter. $Rivian Automotive(RIVN.US)$, which went public this week, rose $6.96, or 5.7%, to $129.95. Rivian has jumped this week, soaring above the $78 initial offering price set Tuesday.

In corporate news, $Johnson & Johnson(JNJ.US)$ shares rose 1.2% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the healthcare company intended to split in two.

Some analysts have said that they expect stocks to keep rising through the end of the year, building on their strong gains. And bullish options activity has picked up lately, with many traders positioning for a rally in coming weeks.

I think what you'll see is some modest appreciation in stocks through the end of the year.

-Michael Underhill, chief investment officer at Capital Innovations

Overseas markets were mixed. The Stoxx Europe 600 added  0.3%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged higher 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.2%.

Write to Joe Wallace at joe.wallace@wsj.com and Gunjan Banerji at gunjan.banerji@wsj.com.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement of any specific investment or investment strategy. Read more
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