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Stock Market Today: Live Updates
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on May 17, 2024.
Miguel M. Santiago | Getty Images
O S&P 500 fell on Friday as investors took profits in Nvidia and this week’s market breathing continued despite the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure largely hovering around expectations.
The broad S&P 500 lost 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6% as Nvidia and other megacap tech stocks took a hit. O Dow Jones Industrial Average traded higher by 62 points, or 0.2%, driven by UnitedHealthadvance of more than 2%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on track to snap five-week winning streaks, with drops of 2.1% and 2.7%, respectively. The blue-chip Dow fell 2.4%, heading for a second consecutive week of losses.
Despite these measures, May appears to be a successful month, with each of the main benchmark indices recording a sixth positive month out of seven. The Dow is up 0.9% this month, while the S&P 500 is up 3.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 5.2%.
“The market will continue to be choppy,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, citing variables such as the upcoming election, Treasury yields and consumer spending. “There are questions about: Where are we going? Where is the economy going?”
Some of May’s strength can be attributed to the rise of Nvidia, which launched blockbuster earnings last week. Although shares of the artificial intelligence darling fell more than 2% on Friday, shares are expected to end the month more than 24% higher. Tesla, Microsoft, goal It is Netflix also fell more than 2% on Friday, weighing on the broader market.
Closely watched economic data released on Friday morning was in line with forecasts. The main price index for personal consumption expenditures increased 0.2% in April, the same value predicted by economists consulted by Dow Jones. Core PCE rose 2.8% on an annualized basis, slightly above economists’ 2.7% forecast.
“This week’s most important economic data came and went without deviating much from expectations,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, adding that the market breathed a “sigh of relief” after the report.
Traders also reacted to the latest corporate earnings results. Dell Technologies fell 22% even after first quarter results exceeded expectations. Cloud Security Stock Zscaler jumped 4.5%, while developer data platform MongoDB fell by almost 25%. clothing retailer Breach jumped more than 27%.