NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Friday, reassured about the prospects of the technology giants while the persistence of inflation in the United States continues to question the trajectory of the Federal Reserve’s rates.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.40%, or 153.86 points, to 38,239.66 points.
The broader S&P-500 gained 51.54 points, or 1.02%, to 5,099.96 points.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 316.14 points (2.03%) to 15,927.90 points.
The PCE consumer price index PCE published on Friday increased a little more than expected in March, by 0.3% over one month and 2.7% over one year, reflecting the persistence of inflation while household consumption expenditure grew in line with expectations.
The resistance of inflation to rate increases raises fears that the Federal Reserve will not lower its rates as quickly as expected.
In this context, investors welcomed the good performance of Alphabet (+10.22%), which announced for the first time the payment of a dividend as well as a massive share buyback program, and of Microsoft (+1.82%), whose figures surprised on the rise.
“The results from Microsoft and Google allayed concerns raised the day before by Meta that spending on data centers and artificial intelligence would weigh on company margins,” commented Tom Plumb, president of Plumb. Funds in Madison, Wisconsin.
(Chibuike Oguh, Tangi Salaün)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
