Short week, big gains for US stocks.
The short trading week still delivered some significant gains for large cap stocks, particularly in tech.
The S&P 500 nudged up .5% on Friday, ending the week 1.5% higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 1% on Friday, and ended the week 3% higher.
Several tech stocks carried those indices this week, as well as economic data that has investors betting on interest rates coming down as soon as September. The unemployment rate in June was 4.1%, according to data from the Labor Department released Friday, marking the first time it has surpassed 4 percent since November 2021.
While rising unemployment does mean the cost of borrowing may come down soon, it also means consumers are more likely to continue tightening their purse strings. The Russell 2000, which measures small companies more exposed to the macro environment, is down 0.5% on Friday and is down 1.2% for the week.
Meta is up 5.8%, after it announced that Threads (a competitor to X) has reached 175 million monthly active users a year after launching. Advanced Micro Devices, a competitor to Nvidia, is up 5%.
iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF is down 2.2%. VanEck Gold Miners ETF, which tracks companies primarily involved in the mining of gold or silver, is up 2.8%.
