The Dow Jones Industrial average soared to a new high on the back of gains in Home Depot and Caterpillar as investors started to embrace some stocks outside of the technology bull market leaders this week.
The 30-stock index plowed ahead 299.42 points to 40,053.17. It was its first time above 40,000 since topping that round number milestone in late May. Home Depot added 2
The S&P 500 index picked up 43.77 points to 5,628.31.
The NASDAQ grabbed 167.65 points to 18,451.05.
The market rallied even after meager reactions to banks’ second-quarter earnings. JPMorgan shares were 1% lower even as the bank posted second-quarter revenue higher than Wall Street expectations on a jump in investment banking fees. Citi stock dipped 3% despite beating on the top and bottom line in the second quarter.
Wells Fargo shares tumbled 7% after the bank said net interest income, a key measure of lending profitability for banks, fell short of expectations in the second quarter.
Nvidia bounced 2% on Friday as investors couldn’t resist some of their favorite tech names which had sold off the day before.
A reading of wholesale inflation came in slightly hotter than expected on Friday, but Wall Street largely ignored those figures after a drop in the consumer price index a day earlier that spurred optimism the Federal Reserve would cut rates in September.
Investors’ move out of tech stocks on Thursday was spurred by a consumer price index report that showed a 0.1% monthly decline in June.
Traders flocked to areas of the market that will benefit from Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, including small-cap stocks.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.19% from Thursday’s 4.21%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices edged ahead 11 cents at $82.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $5.80 to $2,416.10
