Stocks gained in a short Friday session to close near a record high, capping a five-day rally that helped the S&P 500 index erase nearly all its losses from earlier in the month.
The S&P 500 rose 36 points, or 0.5%, to close at 6,849, 42 points shy of its Oct. 28 record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 289 points, or 0.6%, to close at 47,716. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% on Friday but ended November with a decline of 1.5% because of losses for some big tech stocks.
Stock indexes closed at 1 p.m. EDT on Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
The multi-day rebound came after a largely volatile month for stocks, sparked by concerns about a possible bubble in artificial intelligence and tech stocks. AI chipmaker Nvidia lost 1.8% Friday and closed the month with a double-digit loss. Oracle tumbled 23% in November while Palantir Technologies sank 16%.
“The market needs to prove it can sustain this momentum, but right now, the weakness after Nvidia’s earnings looks like it could be more of a short-term AI-selling climax than a sign of heightened bearishness,” Chris Larkin, Managing Director of trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, said in an email.
Some investors have expressed worry that an AI bubble could burst, triggering devastating financial losses. Bubbles occur when stocks surge on inflated growth expectations that ultimately prove to be disconnected from a company’s underlying fundamentals.
Some tech stocks did notch monthly gains, most notably Alphabet, which rose nearly 14%, due to excitement about its recently released Gemini AI model.
The market turned around on hopes that the Federal Reserve would again cut interest rates at its meeting next month. Recent comments from Fed officials have given traders more confidence that the central bank will again cut interest rates at its meeting that ends Dec. 10.
Traders are betting on a nearly 87% probability that the Fed will cut next month, according to data from CME Group.
The central bank, which has already cut rates twice this year in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market, is facing an increasingly difficult decision on interest rates as inflation rises and the job market slows. Cutting interest rates further could help support the economy as employment weakens, but it could also fuel inflation. The latest round of corporate earnings reports was mostly positive, but economic data has been mixed.
The minutes of the Fed’s most recent meeting in October indicate there are likely to be strong divisions among policymakers about the Fed’s next step.
Investors also had their eye on retail stocks as they wait to see if shoppers rushed to take advantage of the annual Black Friday sales event. Macy’s fell 0.3% while Kohl’s gained 1.4%. Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped 0.5%. Among specialty retailers, Abercrombie & Fitch rose 2.9% and American Eagle Outfitters gained 0.7%.
Amid the volatility in tech stocks, traders moved money into other parts of the market. Pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Merck each rose more than 20% for the month. Travel-related companies such as Marriott and Expedia also posted strong monthly gains.
Earlier, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were halted for hours due to a technical issue at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. CME said the problem was tied to an outage at a CyrusOne data center.
Treasury yields rose slightly, with the 10-year yield at 4.02%.