Stocks surge as tech roars back
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and the Russell 2000 was up 0.5% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 soared 1.8% to hit a record high.
Stocks benefited from an in-line November CPI inflation report that calcified traders’ confidence that the Federal Reserve will deliver a rate cut next week.
The top S&P 500 sector ETFs were consumer discretionary, communications services, and tech. However, more sector ETFs fell than rose, with healthcare a notable laggard.
The S&P 500’s advance-decline was negative for the eighth straight session, the longest such streak since the market bottomed in December 2018.
The Magnificent 7 cohort had their best day in over a month, up 3.1% led by Tesla — which hit its first record high in over three years — and Google.
Semiconductors bounced after an awful start to the week, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF gaining 2.5%.
Quantum-computing firm Rigetti Computing’s surge was briefly interrupted by a tweet from Citron Research pouring cold water on the stock, but still ended up 13.7%. Competitors in the space like IonQ and D-Wave Quantum tumbled.