Friday marked the end of a positive week for US and European markets, which gained ground on signs of declining inflation that suggested interest rate rises may be coming to a halt.
The main US indexes recovered from their early losses to end the day higher and to post weekly gains for the third consecutive week.
Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments stated, “More buyers show up every time the market tries to sell off a little bit.” “We are setting the stage for a strong end to the month and a strong end to the year.”
With a gain of 0.2 percent for the day and 2.2 percent for the week, the broad-based S&P 500 closed at 4,514.02.
Because they believe that a slowing US economy will prevent a recession, analysts have labelled US investors as being susceptible to a “fear of missing out”.
In spite of statistics indicating an unexpected decline in retail sales in October, European markets saw increases in the afternoon sessions, with London leading gains at a close over one percent higher.
Hong Kong’s stock fell 2.1% after Alibaba, the world’s largest online retailer, postponed a spinoff of its cloud computing division, blaming the US-China chip conflict.
Crude prices, however, have recovered after plummeting over five percent on Thursday, as investors await a meeting of the OPEC+ consortium of oil export firms.
This week’s less-than-expected US inflation figures stoked expectations that further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve would not be necessary.
The UK had a more unexpected slowdown in inflation.
According to Richard Flax, chief investment officer of Moneyfarm, “investors are becoming more optimistic that interest rates are at a peak and that inflation would continue to ease.” This is because energy costs are declining.
In terms of specific businesses, Microsoft had a 1.7% decline on the announcement of ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman’s abrupt resignation. Microsoft, a significant investor in the AI startup, gave temporary CEO Mira Murati high accolades.
As we offer this new phase of AI to our consumers, Microsoft is dedicated to Mira and their team and has a long-standing cooperation with OpenAI, a Microsoft representative said AFP in a statement.
Individual firms saw a climb of more than 30 percent, headed by Gap, which surprised investors with a turnaround sign led by recently appointed CEO Richard Dickson.