Markets Wrap Up Whale of a November

S&P and Dow rise 8% for the month
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 30, 2023 3:11 PM CST
Dow Surges to 2023 High
Specialist James Denaro works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Wall Street boomed on Thursday, or at least the Dow did, as Wall Street closed the books on its best monthly gain in more than a year, per the AP:

  • The Dow surged 520 points, or 1.4%, to 35,950, a high mark for 2023.
  • The S&P 500 ticked up 17 points, or 0.3%, to 4,567.
  • The tech-centric Nasdaq fell 32 points, or 0.2%, to 14,226.
  • For the month of November, the Dow and S&P 500 each rose more than 8% and the Nasdaq rose about 10%, per CNBC.

The market marched steadily higher for much of November as investors grew hopeful that the Federal Reserve is finally done raising interest rates. Those hopes got more support on Thursday with a report that the Fed's preferred measure of inflation cooled last month. November's rally has also been driven largely by the technology sector, where several companies with high values tend to disproportionately impact the market. Microsoft is up 11.3%, and Nvidia has gained 14.5% for the month. Also, Treasury yields have generally been falling and easing pressure on stocks. High yields tend to make expensive stocks look less attractive to investors.

"The rally has been dramatic in its move," said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial. Momentum has stalled over the last week or so, which is the market's way of dealing with an overbought scenario, she said, but it hardly suggests a deep sell-off ahead. "What you want to see is that next leg up as we close the year," she said. "November is a strong month for the market, but so is December." In the market, software company Salesforce jumped 8.5% after giving investors a strong profit forecast. Cloud-computing company Snowflake rose 6.9% after also giving Wall Street an encouraging financial forecast. On the losing end, data storage company Pure Storage fell 12.7% after giving investors a disappointing revenue outlook.

(More stock market stories.)

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