The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting new records, following a week marked by a series of better-than-expected results.

At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones was down 0.2% at 38,662 points, while the Nasdaq was up more than 0.8% at 15,924.6 points, still buoyed by the strength of semiconductor manufacturers.

The broader S&P 500 index gained 0.3% to 5012.8 points, comfortably above the psychologically important 5000-point threshold.

At this stage of the week, the Dow Jones posted a minimal weekly gain of 0.1%, the S&P gained around 1.1% since Monday and the Nasdaq gained over 1.8%.

The advance of the markets, which are heading for their 14th week of gains out of 15, was mainly fuelled by the good results of technology companies such as Palantir and Spotify, published in recent days.

But investors also welcomed releases from more traditional groups such as Disney, Eli Lilly and GE HealtCare, which also proved decisive in maintaining the upward momentum.

The earnings season will slow considerably next week, although traders will be keeping a close eye on the performances of Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz and John Deere.

Economic indicators should take over and further influence the trend, with the latest US inflation figures in particular.

In the meantime, equity markets continue to ignore tensions on the interest-rate market, which the most optimistic see as proof of the robustness of the US economy.

On the bond front, T-Bond yields continue to climb, with the yield on ten-year paper now at 4.19%, a new high since the start of the year.

Buoyed by the robustness of the US economy, US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) rose moderately by 0.2% to $76.4, heading for a weekly gain of 5.8%.

Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.