Weekly Market Recap – July 15, 2024

Stocks advanced last week as market leadership shifted amid fresh inflation data and quarterly corporate reports starting to roll in.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.87 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 1.59 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which has led all year, rose 0.25 percent. The MSCI EAFE Index, which tracks developed overseas stock markets, rallied 1.62 percent for the week through Thursday’s close. Dow Breaks 40,000 (Again) Mega-cap tech led modest gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the first two days of the week, with the Dow posting modest losses both days. But that narrow trading range didn’t last long as market leadership shifted midweek. Upbeat corporate earnings reports and milder-than-expected consumer inflation in June drove momentum in a handful of larger industrial and consumer stocks. Q2 earnings season got into full swing later in the week, dominated mostly by financial and consumer-oriented companies. Markets seemed initially unfazed by better-than-expected reports from some money center banks. Some observers suggested higher interest rates may be one of the reasons for the market’s lukewarm response. The Dow ended the week with a solid gain after three consecutive weeks of trailing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The Dow also closed above 40,000, the first time it had done so since May, and hit a 52-week intraday high on Friday.

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