US close: Stocks hit more records as post-election rally continues

dl wall street wall st new york city nyc new york stock exchange nyse nasdaq trading finance us usa united states of america unsplash — Sharecast / Sophie Backes via Unsplash

US stocks registered mild gains on Friday but still managed to hit new records as the post-election rally continued, with the Dow and S&P 500 putting in their best weekly performance of the year so far.

The Dow was up 0.6% at 43,988.99, putting it on a 4.9% gain for the week, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 5,995.54, finishing 4.7% higher than last Friday.

Meanwhile the Nasdaq only gained 0.1% to 19,286.78, held back by heavy falls from Chinese companies as Beijing's latest stimulus measures underwhelmed. Nevertheless the index still rose 5.9% on the week.

"With the election out of the way investors have rushed back to US stocks, cheered both by the removal of political uncertainty and by the promise of more earnings growth. Worries about higher inflation and an end to rate cuts have been cast aside, for now," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

The Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates was still drawing an amount of investor attention on Friday, as were comments from Jerome Powell. The Fed chair said he was "feeling good" about the state of the US economy during his post-meeting presser, but did warn that the US was on an unsustainable path as far as fiscal policy was concerned.

In economic news, US consumer confidence hit a six-month high heading into the elections in November, the results of a closely followed survey revealed. On a preliminary basis, the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index edged up from a reading of 70.5 for October to 73.0 in November. Economists had pencilled in a print of 71.0.

In other news, global financial markets were reacting to China's latest stimulus package announced on Friday, as it looked to tackle surging levels of local government debt and revive the country's flagging economy. Beijing approved a Rm10trn (£1.1bn) plan to help heavily-indebted local governments refinance. The funds will go towards reducing off-balance, or hidden, debts. However, many say the measures don't get far enough.

"The problem with China’s stimulus measures is that they are not stimulus. They are essentially a debt swap to shore up local government’s finances. The market reaction shows that traders do not see these measures as boosting consumption, and instead they are designed to stop a financial crisis domestically in China," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

Market movers

Electric car giant Tesla continued to surge following the election, finishing up 8% on the day and 29% on the week, on hopes that founder Elon Musk's heavily publicised support of Donald Trump will benefit the company and wider industry.

Trump's own company, Trump Media & Technology, finished firmly higher after the president elect quashed speculation that he is planning to sell stock in the social media group.

Airbnb's stock fell sharply after the travel bookings marketplace beat revenue estimates but missed profit forecasts in its third quarter.

US-listed shares in Chinese companies tanked as investors gave Beijing's latest stimulus measures a negative reaction. JD.com, NetEase, Baidu and Trip.com were among the worst performers on the Nasdaq.

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $322.11 3.59%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $167.71 2.63%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $256.89 1.83%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $102.92 1.73%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $615.81 1.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $405.90 1.62%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $298.97 1.46%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $589.26 1.22%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $84.83 1.17%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $325.28 1.05%