Wall Street closed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting intraday record highs, on bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, while big banks fell after reporting mixed results.
Bay Street also advanced, with the S&P/TSX Composite Index closing at a record high for the second straight session. It was the TSX’s best weekly performance since October.
Some of the U.S. market’s most valuable companies bounced back after dipping in the previous session. Apple and Nvidia each climbed more than 1%.
The S&P 500 and Dow surged to all-time highs before giving up much of those gains by the close.
JPMorgan Chase’s second-quarter profit was lifted by rising investment banking fees. However, shares of the world’s largest bank dipped 1.2%.
Wells Fargo tumbled 6% after the lender missed estimates for quarterly interest income, while Citigroup fell 1.8% despite reporting a surge in investment banking revenue.
The S&P 500 banks index lost 1.5%.
The small-cap Russell 2000 rallied for a third straight day, gaining 1.1% and reaching its highest since 2022, while the S&P 400 Mid Cap index rose 0.9%. The two indexes have lagged the S&P 500 this year.
“That rotation into small- and mid-caps is still continuing and that’s a positive sign overall,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group.
The most traded stock in the S&P 500 was Tesla, with US$38 billion worth of shares exchanged during the session. The electric car maker jumped 3%.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.55% to end the session at 5,615.35 points.
The Nasdaq gained 0.63% at 18,398.45 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.62% to 40,000.90 points.
For the week, the S&P 500 rose 0.9%, the Nasdaq added 0.2% and the Dow rose 1.6%.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 129.39 points, or 0.57%, at 22,673.52.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, consumer discretionary was among top gainers with a 1.2% rise, boosted with Aritzia’s 14.8% rise to hit its highest price since January 2023, after its first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates.
Shares of Filo Corp surged 6.7% and those of Lundin Mining Corp rose 2% after Reuters reported mining giant BHP and Lundin were set to make a joint bid for Filo.
Cogeco Communications gained 4% after its third-quarter revenue beat analysts’ estimates, boosting the capped communication services index up 0.83%.
Canadian inflation data due next week will have investors adjusting their rate-cut bets ahead of the Bank of Canada’s next monetary policy meeting on July 24.
With stock indexes trading around record highs, investors are betting on strong profit growth from companies beyond Nvidia and other heavyweights that have benefited from explosive growth in artificial intelligence computing.
Analysts expect second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 firms to jump 9.6%, with strong growth from technology companies but declining earnings in real estate, industrials and materials, LSEG IBES data showed.
“The thematic appeal of the AI story is still very much there,” said Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We just need to see an inflection in earnings growth coming from the rest of the market, and that’s something that we’re going to be watching for quite intently over the next couple weeks.”
Data showed producer prices were slightly hotter-than-expected in June but that did little to change bets on the first rate cut in September. The report follows data showing a surprise fall in U.S. consumer prices on Thursday.
Traders are betting on a 94% chance of a rate cut by September, up from 78% a week ago, according to CME Group’s FedWatch.
Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 4.1-to-one ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 62 new highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 170 new highs and 36 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 11.3 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.6 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Reuters, Globe staff
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