The U.S. stock market closed with significant gains on Friday, as equities continued their impressive rally. This surge resulted in the big three indexes achieving their highest weekly gains of the year so far in 2023.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed approximately 222 points or 0.7% to end near 34,061 on Friday. This impressive performance led to a remarkable 5.1% weekly gain.
S&P 500 Index
The S&P 500 index experienced a 0.9% increase on Friday, contributing to a noteworthy 5.9% gain for the week.
Nasdaq Composite Index
The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed by 1.4% on Friday, resulting in an impressive weekly gain of 6.6%.
The positive momentum in the stock market was fueled by the October jobs report, which indicated some signs of weakening in the robust labor market. Despite the Federal Reserve’s previous aggressive rate hikes to combat inflation, investors were encouraged by the possibility of the Fed adopting lower interest rates next year.
As a consequence, bond yields saw a significant decline, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling back to 4.557% after briefly touching 5% in recent weeks. The rally also extended to treasury exchange-traded funds, with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF recording a 3.9% weekly gain.
This surge represents the most substantial weekly percentage gain for the Dow Jones since October 28, 2022, and for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since November 11, 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data.