After a slow start, the U.S. stocks finished the week strong, with all three major indexes in the green on Friday and coming away with weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a particularly successful session, notching a new record close.
The Dow Jones jumped by close to 1% or 426.16 to close at an all-time high of 44,296.51 points. The blue-chip index is almost 2% up for the week.
The benchmark S&P 500 had a gain of 0.35% or 20.63 points for a 5,969.34 points close and a 1.62% weekly gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up slightly, gaining 0.16% or 31.23 points, but its close of 19,003.65 was still enough to make it 1.53% up for the week.
The strong finish of the week was attributed to recent data that showed robust expansion across the private sector. The lower interest rate and the perceived incoming business-friendly environment from the new administration have resulted in the highest business activity in November to its highest in 31 months.
The S&P Global U.S. Composite PMI, which tracks business trends across manufacturing and service sectors, came at 55.3 in November. This marked an improvement from October’s figure of 54.1 and the highest point since April 2022.