This is our weekly market update, is the best way I have found to organize my thoughts for the week and to track what’s going on. We start in the US, crosses to Europe, then Asia, and Australia, and we also cover commodities and crypto.
In the US, the Nasdaq eked out a fifth straight record closing high on Friday following gains in Adobe and other technology-related shares, while the S&P 500 and Dow ended slightly lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15%, to 38,589.16. The S&P 500 lost 0.04%, at 5,431.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 21.32 points, or 0.12%, at 17,688.88.
For the week, the Dow was down 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose 1.6% and the Nasdaq was up 3.2%. So the S&P 500 ended its four-day run of record closing highs, but still climbed more than 1% for the week. The S&P 500 technology sector rose 0.5%, hitting another record high close. The communication services sector rose 0.6%, leading gains among sectors.
Adobe shares jumped 14.5% a day after the company raised its annual revenue forecast on more demand for its artificial intelligence-powered software. But the Russell small-cap index fell 1.6%, adding to recent losses, while the S&P 500 industrials sector was down 1%.
The big issue this week was the Feds post decision press conference, with investors still trying to gauge how soon the Federal Reserve might be able to cut interest rates following Wednesday’s cooler-than-expected CPI report and the Fed’s revised dot plot, which lowered rate-cut expectations this year from three to one.
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