Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to new record highs Friday, sealing six straight weeks of gains.
The broad market benchmark advanced 0.40% to close at 5,864.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36.86 points, or 0.09%, to end at 43,275.91. The Nasdaq Composite, led by a postearnings jump in Netflix, ended the day up 0.63% at 18,489.55.
The three major averages clinched their sixth straight positive week. This marked the longest string of weekly advances in 2024 for both the Dow and S&P 500, which respectively ended 0.96% and 0.85% higher. The Nasdaq climbed 0.80%.
Netflix climbed 11% on Friday after the streaming giant beat Wall Street's earnings and revenue estimates in the third quarter, while reporting a 35% jump in ad-tier memberships from the prior three-month period. Procter & Gamble also reported better-than-expected earnings, while revenue fell short of estimates.
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More than 70 S&P 500 companies have reported earnings this season. Of those, 75% have beaten expectations, according to FactSet.
Despite an expected increase in volatility in the market leading up to the election, stocks may actually continue to rally through November, according to Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory. This would be atypical for an election year.
"Usually it's the other way around — the market's hesitant, and then it does well after the election. Now we're getting the reverse of it and … Maybe you get the opposite of what we had — stocks will be strong into the election and then have some volatility fall on the election," he said.
Money Report
Williams attributed this outperformance to investors already pricing in a win from Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, whose policies would be more business friendly in terms of taxes and regulations.
Stocks climb to a record close Friday afternoon
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to new records to close Friday's session.
The broader market benchmark rose 0.40% to settle at 5864.67, while the 30-stock index added 36.86 points, or 0.09%, and closed at 43,275.91. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.63% and finished at 18,489.55.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Recent economic growth has been because of deficit spending, says John Paulson
The strength in the U.S. economy is not surprising, according to hedge fund billionaire John Paulson.
"Well, it is positive," the Paulson & Co. founder told CNBC's "Money Movers" on Friday. "The tech sector is doing well, but a lot of the growth is due to the deficit spending."
Paulson, who is a supporter of former President Donald Trump and has been a major donor to his 2024 presidential campaign, pointed to the 14% increase in federal spending compared to last year's period. The national deficit currently sits at nearly $2 trillion.
"The increase in government spending is basically accounting for all the GDP growth that we have this year," he continued. "It's an easy way to get growth in the short term, but it has long-term consequences."
— Sean Conlon
Small caps outperform this week
Despite little action in Friday trading, small-cap stocks have had a good week.
The small cap-focused Russell 2000 is flickering around flat in the session, but on pace to end the week higher by about 2%. By comparison, the broad S&P 500 has risen less than 1% this week.
That can offer good news for a group that has lagged the broader market this year. While the S&P 500 has rallied around 23% in 2024, the Russell 2000 has only added 12.5%.
— Alex Harring
Airline ETF is outperforming on Friday
Airline stocks are capping off a strong week with another solid performance.
The U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) was up 1.8% in afternoon trading, outperforming the three major averages. The fund is now up more than 7% for the week.
The airline sector got a boost on Wednesday after United Airlines' third-quarter report showed stronger-than-expected results. United also delivered an upbeat outlook.
Top-performing airline stocks on Friday include American and Southwest, which gained 3.3% and 2.3%, respectively.
— Jesse Pound
Bank of America upgrades Tyra Biosciences, says update on developing urothelial carcinoma treatment 'likely to be de-risking'
Bank of America still sees more potential upside for Tyra Biosciences, even with its recent strength.
Shares moved more than 2% higher during Friday's trading session, hitting a new 52-week high, after analyst Jason Zemansky upgraded his rating on the biotechnology name to buy from neutral. Additionally, his updated price target implies more than 19% upside from Thursday's close. The stock has already surged more than 92% this year.
"We are positive on Tyra's differentiated approach to drug development and the SNAP technology platform," he wrote in a note to clients. "Indeed, the company's novel approach to rapid development of precision-engineered small molecules targeting validated disease targets has the potential to meaningfully improve upon standard of care in multiple indications."
The analyst's move comes a week before the biotechnology company is expected to present clinical data for TYRA-300 — its treatment for urothelial carcinoma and solid tumors that is currently in development — at the 36th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain.
By comparison, Zemansky believes Johnson & Johnson's inhibitor for urothelial carcinoma known as erdafitinib has set the bar low, as "poor tolerability has made it largely a non-starter."
"To that end, we think the bar for success for '300 is safety vs. efficacy," he continued. "Early safety update is likely to be de-risking."
— Sean Conlon
Stocks making the biggest moves midday
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading:
- Netflix — Shares jumped 10% due to the streamer's third-quarter results beating Wall Street's expectations. Netflix earned $5.40 per share on revenue of $9.83 billion, above the $5.12 per share and $9.77 billion in revenue that analysts were expecting, according to LSEG. Analysts lauded the results, with several increasing their price targets on the name amid anticipated further growth ahead.
- CVS Health — Shares tumbled 8% after the pharmacy chain said longtime executive David Joyner has replaced Karen Lynch as CEO. Separately, CVS issued third-quarter adjusted earnings guidance between $1.05 and $1.10 per share, far weaker than the FactSet consensus estimate of $1.69 a share.
- Lamb Weston — Shares surged 9.2% after activist investor Jana Partners disclosed it has built a stake in the frozen french fries maker. In a regulatory filing, Jana Partners also said it plans to push Lamb Weston toward exploring a sale.
— Sarah Min
Stellantis to sell Arizona Proving Grounds
In the latest of Stellantis' cost-cutting efforts, the automaker plans to close and sell its large vehicle proving grounds in Arizona.
This decision to close the 4,000-acre facility was confirmed by sources close to the deal to CNBC. As of July 2019, 69 employees operated the facility. Stellantis has been under pressure from investors due to its waning performance that includes recent sales declines and factory production cuts.
Shares of Stellantis have tumbled 43% this year, but were last trading 2% higher.
— Lisa Kailai Han, Michael Wayland
Peloton recovers its year-to-date losses
Shares of Peloton Interactive were last trading 9% higher, recovering some of the exercise bike manufacturer's year-to-date losses of nearly 6%. Earlier in the day, Peloton had traded as much as 12% higher.
Shares have soared around 80% since Peloton announced the departure of former CEO Barry McCarthy on May 2. On Thursday, the company said it will release its first-quarter fiscal 2025 results before the market opens on Oct. 31.
— Lisa Kailai Han, Brandon Gomez
38 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week highs
Thirty-eight stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs during Friday's session.
Names that hit this milestone included:
- Netflix trading at all-time-high levels back to its initial public offering in May 2002
- McDonald's trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 1965
- General Dynamics trading at all-time-high levels back to 1952 when it was incorporated and listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Boston Properties trading at levels not seen since August 2022
- WEC Energy Group trading at levels not seen since December 2022
- Hilton Worldwide trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in December 2013
- T-Mobile US trading at all-time highs back to the MetroPCS IPO in April 2007
- Blackstone trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in June 2007
- Howmet Aerospace trading at all-time highs back to its Alcoa spinoff in November 2016
- Cisco trading at levels not seen since September 2023
Just two stocks were trading at their 52-week lows: Centene and Moderna.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Bitcoin is on pace for its best weekly gain since mid-September
Bitcoin traded as high as $68,347 on Friday, and is on pace for a weekly gain of more than 7%, which would be its best weekly performance since Sept. 13, when the cryptocurrency gained 11.8%.
Ether is up more than 6% week to date, while Coinbase has gained 19% week to date.
— Christina Cheddar Berk
American Express' postearnings slide threatens 5-week win streak
American Express' postearnings drop on Friday pulled shares into the red on the week, putting a five-week win streak at risk.
The financial stock slid nearly 5% in the session, making it the worst performer in the Dow and third-biggest loser in the S&P 500. Friday's retreat comes after the company posted weaker-than-expected revenue for the third quarter.
That dragged shares down about 1.5% on the week. If that holds, the stock will post its first negative week of the last six.
— Alex Harring
Gold rises to new record high
Gold futures rose to a fresh intraday all-time high of $2,732.30 on Friday. Week to date, gold futures are up 1.8%, on pace for the fifth positive week in six.
The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) hit its highest level since September 2020 and was headed for its seventh straight daily gain.
For the week, the Gold Miners exchange-traded fund is up more than 5%, putting it on track for its best week since Sept. 13 when it jumped 10.36%.
— Hakyung Kim, Gina Francolla
Lamb Weston shares pop after activist investor reportedly pushes company toward sale
Lamb Weston shares popped more than 8% on news that activist investor Jana Partners has built a stake in the frozen potato product maker in an effort to push the company to explore a sale, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the activist acquired a roughly 5% stake in Lamb Weston and wants the company to improve its operations and capital-allocation strategy. Lamb Weston is the largest producer of french fries in North America and the second-largest in the world, and has a market cap of about $10 billion.
Shares of Lamb Weston are down roughly 29.5% year to date. The company has been hit by higher restaurant prices that have lowered demand for its potato products.
— Pia Singh
Boeing strike prompts supplier Spirit AeroSystems to furlough 700 workers
Spirit AeroSystems said it furloughed 700 workers for 21 days as the Boeing machinists strike drags on. The Boeing supplier warned that further furloughs and layoffs could be ahead if Boeing does not settle its strike by November.
Boeing is in the process of acquiring Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselage for its planes, in an attempt to gain control over quality control. The strike has been hammering Boeing's finances, prompting it to raise as much as $25 billion to shore up its short-term liquidity. The planemaker also struck a $10 billion credit agreement.
Spirit shares inched slightly lower in premarket trading.
— Christina Cheddar Berk
S&P 500 opens higher
After ending Thursday's session marginally lower, the S&P 500 clawed back some of its losses Friday morning.
The 500-stock index added 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5%. After notching a fresh closing high on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 73 points, or 0.2%.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Building permits, new housing starts down in September
Housing starts and building permits both declined in September, painting a mostly downbeat look at the residential construction picture, according to a Census Bureau report Friday.
Private-owned authorizations for permits totaled 1.428 million, 2.9% below the previous month's downwardly revised total and down 5.7% from a year ago. The Dow Jones consensus had been looking for 1.45 million permits.
On starts, new construction totaled 1.354 million, a 0.5% decrease from the upwardly revised August figure, though narrowly above the 1.35 million estimate.
— Jeff Cox
UBS upgrades Datadog, sees nearly 20% upside ahead
UBS upgraded shares of Datadog to buy from neutral after its latest industry checks point to "green-shoots" of potential spending improvement in the second half, as well as strong medium-term growth for its cloud infrastructure business.
"Even after the 10% month-to-date rally in the stock, we think the stock is a Buy given a) our improved view of Datadog's current and projected demand backdrop, and b) the rally across the smid-cap growth stock peer group," analyst Karl Keirstead wrote in a note Thursday.
Keirstead raised his price target to $150 from $125, suggesting the stock can move 19% higher.
Shares have gained about 4% year to date.
— Michelle Fox
Here’s what analysts are saying after Netflix’s third-quarter beat
Analysts are getting even more bullish on Netflix following its earnings beat for the third quarter.
At JPMorgan, analyst Doug Anmuth said Netflix remains a top pick in his eyes. Forecasting "more balanced" growth next year as the company's ad tier scales up, he reiterated his overweight rating on the stock and hiked his price target, which reflects more than 23% upside from Thursday's close.
"We believe NFLX's global scale, strong engagement (~2 hours/day), & diversified content will push NFLX toward becoming the default choice for how users consume TV, film, & other long-form Content," Anmuth wrote in a Friday note to clients.
Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne also reiterated his overweight rating on the name and upped his target, which implies more than 20% upside ahead, as of Thursday's close. He called the results a "success" and sees even more room for growth.
Shares jumped more than 6% in premarket trading Friday on the heels of the streamer's results. This year, the stock has risen more than 41%.
CNBC Pro users can read more here.
— Sean Conlon
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
- Procter & Gamble — The stock fell 0.8% after reporting weaker-than-expected revenue. The household goods maker posted $21.74 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG had estimated $21.91 billion. The company attributed the miss to lower demand in China. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.93 topped estimates of $1.90 per share.
- Netflix — Shares popped 6.3% after the streaming giant exceeded Wall Street's third-quarter expectations. Netflix reported earnings per share of $5.40 on revenue of $9.83 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast earnings of $5.12 a share on revenue of $9.77 billion. The company also saw its ad-supported membership tier jump 34% quarter over quarter.
- CVS Health — Shares tumbled 11% after the drug store chain announced longtime executive David Joyner has replaced Karen Lynch as CEO. CVS also guided for third-quarter adjusted earnings between $1.05 and $1.10 per share, less than the $1.69 a share expected from analysts polled by Fact Set.
The full list can be found here.
— Hakyung Kim
Bank of America says Nvidia shares can rally almost 40%
Nvidia could be positioned for even more growth ahead, according to Bank of America.
Shares moved around 1% higher in the premarket after analyst Vivek Arya reiterated his buy rating on the chip giant and upped his price target, which reflects around 38.8% upside from Thursday's close. That would add to the monstrous rally it has already seen this year, with shares surging more than 176% in 2024.
The analyst thinks recent events in the industry — such as Taiwan Semiconductor's third-quarter results and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying earlier this month that demand for its Blackwell chip is "insane" — could increase the company's competitive lead and generational opportunity.
CNBC Pro users can read more here.
— Sean Conlon
Apple climbs 2% on reports of strong iPhone 16 sales in China
Shares of Apple rose 2% in Friday's premarket trading session.
The moves came after the publication of a Bloomberg story reporting that sales of Apple's new iPhone 16 in China are up 20% in their first three weeks compared with the iPhone 15, according to data from Counterpoint Research. So far, the data suggests that the launch of the iPhone 16 is faring better than that of its predecessor.
— Lisa Kailai Han
CVS replaces CEO, shares tumble
Shares of CVS Health sank 13% in premarket trading after the drug store chain replaced its CEO and gave disappointing guidance for its third quarter.
Longtime CVS Health executive David Joyner has replaced Karen Lynch as chief executive, the company announced Friday. It also said it expects adjusted earnings between $1.05 and $1.10 per share in the third quarter, less than the $1.69 a share expected from analysts polled by Fact Set.
CVS has struggled with higher medical costs and a drop in consumer spending. The company cut its full-year guidance in August and announced cost cuts of $2 billion over the next several years.
The stock is down more than 19% year to date.
— Michelle Fox, Jacob Pramuk
Netflix pops on strong earnings
Netflix shares were up more than 6% after the streaming giant reported third-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations.
The company earned $5.40 per share on revenue of $9.83 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $5.12 per share on revenue of $9.77 billion. A big driver for Netflix was a 35% jump in ad-supported subscriptions.
— Fred Imbert
China markets rebound on stronger-than-expected GDP data
Mainland China's CSI 300 jumped 3.62% to close at 3,925.23. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up more than 3.3% as of its final hour of trade.
China's third-quarter GDP grew 4.6% compared to the same period last year, slightly above Reuters poll estimates but down from 4.7% in the previous quarter.
Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.18% to 38,981.75 while Topix was up slightly at 2,688.97.
Kospi slipped 0.59% to 2,593.85, while Kosdaq was down 1.55% to 753.22. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.87% lower to 8,283.2.
— Anniek Bao
European markets open mixed
European markets opened mixed on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 last dipping 0.06% at 8:06 a.m. London time.
Major regional bourses and sectors were mixed, with auto stocks last adding 1.17% and mining stocks rising 1.69%. Telecommunications, health care and utilities were among the sectors that pulled back.
— Sophie Kiderlin
Stocks head for winning week
Stocks are on track to finish the week with gains, extending recent winning streaks.
The Dow and S&P 500 have climbed 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively, this week. The Nasdaq Composite has ticked up almost 0.2%.
All three are on track to notch their sixth straight winning weeks. That would mark the longest weekly positive streaks for the Dow and S&P 500 in 2024.
Small caps have outperformed this week, with the Russell 2000 adding more than 2%.
— Alex Harring
See the stocks moving after hours
These are some of the stocks making notable moves in extended trading:
- Netflix — The streaming stock popped more than 4% after third-quarter earnings surpassed expectations. Netflix also said its ad-tier memberships jumped 35% quarter over quarter.
- Intuitive Surgical — Shares jumped about 5% after the maker of the da Vinci surgical robot released stronger-than-expected results for the third quarter. Intuitive Surgical earned $1.84 per share on $2.04 billion in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had predicted earnings of $1.63 per share on $2 billion in revenue.
— Alex Harring
Stock futures are little changed
Stock futures are near flat shortly after 6 p.m. ET.
Dow and S&P 500 futures both traded around the flatlines. Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.1%.
— Alex Harring