With corporate earnings beginning to compete with interest rate concerns for investor attention, stocks pushed further higher on Friday. This marked the fourth consecutive day of gains for the Dow and S&P 500. For the Nasdaq, the advance marked the sixth notch in the index’s winning streak.
The Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) closed +0.7%, the S&P 500 (SP500) finished +0.4% and the Dow (DJI) ended +0.3%. The Nasdaq has finished lower in only two sessions so far in 2023.
The corporate earnings season began to ramp up on Friday, with a string of reports from the financial sector. JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) all announced results.
Investors initially had a subdued reaction to the numbers, focusing on a rise in expenses and provision losses, along with cautious outlooks. However, the stocks reversed course through the day and eventually finished higher.
The list of earnings reports also included some big players outside the financial sector. UnitedHealth (UNH) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) both revealed results as well.
Earlier this week, stocks received a boost from the release of consumer price data, which showed an as-expected cooling in annual inflation. Investors bet that this would allow the Fed to raise interest rates by just 25 basis points at its upcoming policy meeting.
Friday’s session saw selling in the bond market after recent buying. This sent yields higher. The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) rose 6 basis point to 3.50%. The 2-year yield (US2Y) climbed 9 basis points to 4.23%.
Looking at some of the active movers on the day outside the earnings-related players, defense contractors Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) both dropped following a downgrade from Goldman.
