US stocks rose Friday afternoon, building on a stellar November, even as investors digested a warning from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that it would be “premature” to conclude that Fed rate hikes are over or “speculate” when cuts could begin.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) increased about 0.6% to a new 2023 closing high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose roughly 0.8% or nearly 300 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced 0.5%. All three indexes closed positive for a fifth straight week.
Stocks soared in November to post their best monthly performance since 2022 as conviction that the Fed was done with rate hikes morphed into growing hopes for rate cuts before the summer.
“It’s one of the best months we’ve seen in the last decade,” eToro US investment analyst Callie Cox told Yahoo Finance Live. “And I think it shows us how a lot of investors were caught off guard by the Fed’s flexible stance after the Nov. 1 meeting.”
Read more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards
Powell spoke Friday after October data showed inflation cooled to its lowest levels since 2021. Despite his pushback against talk of rate cuts, markets moved higher from earlier losses as he hinted the central bank could be done with rate hikes.
Meanwhile, oil prices lost more ground after OPEC+’s additional output curbs failed to convince skeptical investors. WTI crude futures (CL=F) traded just above $74 a barrel, down over 2%, while Brent (BZ=F) futures were below $83.
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