Azzad MarketWeek
Stocks were mixed last week, with broad gains on Monday and Friday bookending midweek selling pressure as investors digested earnings results from more than 100 S&P 500 companies.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ended the week roughly where it started, slipping 0.10 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.84 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.50 percent.
Dow 50,000
Stocks bounded out of the gate on Monday with the Dow leading a broad rise across all three major averages. Markets rose in anticipation of a big week for Q4 corporate reports.
Market sentiment quickly changed on Tuesday as anxious investors appeared to rotate out of technology names and into cyclical areas of the economy more likely to rebound with an improving economy.
News on Wednesday that private-sector job growth slowed in January added to investor anxiety. Stocks fell again on Thursday, with the S&P 500 briefly going negative year-to-date.
Then things turned around.
Stocks rebounded broadly on Friday as investors appeared to “buy the dip.” The Dow led, closing above the 50,000 level for the first time. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed back above 23,000, while the S&P gained 2 percent. The latest University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in six months, helping buoy investor sentiment.
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