S&P 500 has best week since November

US stocks extended their recent rally, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes posted their biggest weekly percentage gains since the US election in early November, boosted by optimism about earnings, stimulus talks and progress in the market. vaccine deployment.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose for a fifth straight session in their longest streak since August, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted record closing highs for the second straight day.

A weaker than expected rebound in the US labor market last month highlighted the need for more government assistance to support the economy. The Labor Department on Friday reported an increase of 49,000 non-farm jobs last month, but job losses in manufacturing and construction.

US President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress implemented their US $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan as lawmakers approved a budget plan that will allow them to implement Biden’s plan in the coming weeks without the support of the Republicans.

This week’s bullish earnings also supported investor optimism. So far, stronger-than-expected fourth quarter corporate results have raised analysts’ expectations, and S&P 500 companies are poised to post earnings growth for the period instead of declining as originally planned.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.38 points, or 0.3%, to 31,148.24, the S&P 500 gained 15.09 points, or 0.39%, to 3,886.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 78.55 points, or 0.57%, to 13,856.30.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 4.65%, the Nasdaq 6.01% and the Dow Jones rose 3.89%. The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index rose 7.7% for the week, its biggest weekly percentage gain since the week ended June 5.

The Cboe volatility index fell and recorded its biggest weekly point drop since the end of the week on November 6.

The S&P 500 technology index ended down 0.2% after hitting a record high earlier in the session.

Johnson & Johnson rose 1.5% after the drugmaker said it asked U.S. health regulators to clear its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

Shares of GameStop Corp, caught in the recent social media trading frenzy, rose 19.2% on Friday, after online broker Robinhood lifted all buying restrictions imposed at the height of the battle between amateur investors and Wall Street hedge funds.

The advancing issues outnumbered the declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 2.33 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.94 to 1 favored the advances.

The S&P 500 posted 34 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 286 new highs and four new lows.

Volume on the U.S. exchanges was 13.65 billion shares, compared to an average of 15.5 billion for the full session over the past 20 trading days.