Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to new record highs Friday, sealing six straight weeks of gains.
The broad market benchmark advanced 0.40% to close at 5,864.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36.86 points, or 0.09%, to end at 43,275.91. The Nasdaq Composite, led by a post-earnings jump in Netflix, ended the day up 0.63% at 18,489.55.
The three major averages cinched their sixth straight positive week. This marked the longest string of weekly advances in 2024 for both the Dow and S&P 500, which respectively ended 0.96% and 0.85% higher. The Nasdaq climbed 0.80%.
Netflix climbed 11% on Friday after the streaming giant beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates in the third quarter, while reporting a 35% jump in ad-tier memberships from the prior three-month period. Procter & Gamble also reported better-than-expected earnings, while revenue fell short of estimates.
More than 70 S&P 500 companies have reported earnings this season. Of those, 75% have beaten expectations, according to FactSet.
Despite an expected increase in volatility in the market leading up to the election, stocks may actually continue to rally through November, according to Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory. This would be atypical for an election year.
“Usually it’s the other way around — the market’s hesitant, and then it does well after the election. Now we’re getting the reverse of it and … Maybe you get the opposite of what we had — stocks will be strong into the election and then have some volatility fall on the election,” he said.
Williams attributed this outperformance to investors already pricing in a win from Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, whose policies would be more business friendly in terms of taxes and regulations.
