U.S. stocks weekly: New heights

Chubb

20/05/2024 11:00

(Repeats from Friday with no changes to text. Updates chart)
    ** S&P 500  .SPX  ascends 4th consecutive week, adds 1.5% as
economic data fuels rate cut optimism  .N 
    ** Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  closes above 40,000
mark for first time, and SPX and Nasdaq  .IXIC  both score new
records
    ** This as the benchmark Treasury yield  US10YT=RR  tumbles,
tests 200-day moving average
    ** But is the Nasdaq throttling up into thin air?
    ** Indeed, NYSE breadth breathes easy, Nasdaq not so much
    ** Vast majority of sectors climb; Tech and dividend-payers
vault, while just Consumer Discretionary and Industrials drag
    ** Tech  .SPLRCT  powers up 2.9%. Advanced Micro Devices
 AMD.O  rises as Microsoft  MSFT.O  offers AMD alternative to
Nvidia  NVDA.O  AI processors
    Semiconductor index  .SOX  leaps ~4%
    ** Communication Services  .SPLRCL  advance 1.7%.
Google-owner Alphabet  GOOGL.O  up after unveiling beefed-up AI
search and chatbot
    ** Financials  .SPSY  lift 1.4%. Insurer Chubb  CB.N  hits
all-time high after Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway  BRKa.N 
reveals $6.7 bln stake
    ** Utilities  .SPLRCU  up 1.2%. AES Corp  AES.N  jumps after
selling its Brazilian operations to power co Auren  AURE3.SA .
Utilities: Has the switch flipped in their favor?
    ** Consumer Staples  .SPLRCS  up 0.7%. Walmart  WMT.N 
surges to record high on strong annual forecast
    ** Consumer Discretionary  .SPLRCD  ticks down 0.1%. Home
Depot  HD.N  falls on bigger-than-expected Q1 same-store-sales
drop as customers delay big projects
    ** Industrials  .SPLRCI  sag 0.4%. Deere  DE.N  falls after
second 2024 profit forecast cut, as farmers buy few fewer
tractors, combine harvesters as crop prices decline
    ** Meanwhile, GameStop  GME.N  and AMC Entertainment  AMC.N 
soar, then sink as meme stocks rally deflates  
    ** SPX performance YTD:    

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SP 500 2024 YTD THROUGH MAY 17    https://tmsnrt.rs/3UMRoOH
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 (Lance Tupper and Terence Gabriel are Reuters market analysts.
The views expressed are their own)
 ((lance.tupper.tr.com@reuters.net
lance.tupper@tr.com
terence.gabriel.tr.com@reuters.net
terence.gabriel@tr.com))