Tech Stocks Soar, Microsoft Reaches Record High As AI Rally Resumes: What's Driving Markets Friday?

Stocks rallied on Friday, reversing the negative session from Thursday, which had broken the longest winning streak in over two years, following hawkish comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Federal Reserve policy.

The tech sector is back on the rise, driven by the performance of the Magnificent 7 titans, with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) reaching a new all-time high, breaking above $369 at the time of publication.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is also up, marking its fourth consecutive week of gains, the best streak since January 2023.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 60.4 in November, the lowest in six months, well below the forecast of 63.7. However, five-year inflation expectations reached 4.4%, the highest level since March 2011.

Cues From Friday's Trading:

The S&P 500 rose 1%, on track to end the week in the green. Blue chips in the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%, battling to close the week in the green.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 soared 1.8%, pushing weekly gains to 2.4%. Small caps also rose 0.8%, but remained negative for the week.

US Index Performance On Friday

Thursday’s Trading In Major US Equity ETFs

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 1.2% higher to $439.15
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.9% to $342.02 
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 1.9% to $376.93, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Looking at S&P 500’s sector ETFs:

• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed, rising 2.2%
• The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) was the laggard, up by 0.1%.

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Stocks In Focus:

• Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) tumbled over 43% to $3.38 following its third-quarter miss and “going concern” warning.
• Among the other stocks moving on earnings news are Alarm.com Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALRM) (up nearly 10%) Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ:BLNK) (up about 30.5%), Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX) (up over 6%), Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) (down about 10%), Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF) (NYSE:LGF) (flat), Navitas Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:NVTS) (up over 11%), Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) (up over 4%), The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) (down over 16%) and Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) (down about 5%).

Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil rose 2.2%, with a barrel of WTI-grade crude trading at $81. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) was 2.3% higher to $71.83.  

Treasury yields were mostly steady, with the 10-year yield at 4.63% and the two-year yield up by 3 basis points to 5.05%. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) was 0.4% higher for the day. 

The dollar eased, with the U.S. dollar index, which is tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF (NYSE:UUP) down 0.1%. The EUR/USD pair, which is tracked by the Invesco CurrecyShares Euro Currency Trust (NYSE:FXE), was 0.1% higher to 1.0680.

European equity indices had a positive session. The SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF  (NYSE:FEZ) rose 0.5%. 

Gold fell 1.2% to $1,934/oz, while silver fell 1.8% to $22.22. 

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