By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Nasdaq and the stock market rose to record highs on Friday after positive forecasts of Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:) and other companies, and with US jobs data fueling expectations, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this month.
The Dow Jones finished lower as a 5.1% decline in shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:) weighed on the index.
The S&P 500 consumer staples index rose 2.4% to hit an all-time high. It led to gains among the sectors, boosted by Lululemon.
Shares of Lululemon Athletica rose 15.9% after the sportswear maker raised full-year guidance.
Also in the consumer discretionary space, shares of cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:) rose 9% after the company raised its annual earnings guidance.
The U.S. Department of Labor report shows that job growth rose sharply in November, but a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2% pointed to a loosening labor market.
“It supports the case for the Fed to continue cutting rates at the December meeting and into the first quarter,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at US Bank Wealth Management in Billings, Montana.
Shares fell 123.19 points, or 0.28%, to 44,642.52, while the S&P 500 gained 15.16 points, or 0.25%, to 6,090.27 and gained 159.05 points, or 0.81 %, to 19,859.77.
The S&P 500 posted its 57th all-time high for 2024, while the Nasdaq Composite posted its 36th all-time high for the year.
The Nasdaq gained 3.3% this week, the S&P 500 rose about 1% and the Dow Jones fell 0.6%.
Based on the data, U.S. interest rate futures estimate a roughly 90% chance that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points at the Dec. 17-18 policy meeting, according to LSEG calculations that previously saw only a 72% chance.
The Fed has cut rates by 75 basis points since September, when it launched its easing cycle.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said inflation risks remained, prompting caution in interest rate decisions.
Shares of health insurers including UnitedHealth continued to fall from the previous session, two days after Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth’s health insurance unit, was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel.
The shooter remained on the run and his motive has not yet been determined. The death sparked reactions on social media about frustrations with the U.S. health insurance system.
Among other stock prices, shares of Facebook owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) rose 2.4% after a US appeals court upheld a law requiring China-based ByteDance to shut down its popular short video app TikTok early next year bump, otherwise a ban will be imposed.
The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, ended 0.77 points lower at 12.77, the lowest level since mid-July.
On the NYSE, decliners outnumbered advancers by a ratio of 1.01 to 1. There were 354 new highs and 98 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,610 stocks rose and 1,678 fell as advancing issues outnumbered declining stocks by a 1.56-to-1 ratio.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.99 billion shares, compared with the full-session average of 14.5 billion over the past 20 trading days.
