The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 32,778.64 on Friday with a gain of 293.05 points or 0.90%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,943.34 for a gain of 4.00 points or 0.10%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,319.86 for a loss of 78.81 points or -0.59%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 20.69 for a loss of 1.22 points or -5.57%.
For the week, the Dow Jones led gains with a return of 4.1%, the Nasdaq had a gain of 3.1% and the S&P 500 had a gain of 3.1%. For the year, the Dow Jones has a gain of 7.0%, the S&P 500 is up 5.0% and the Nasdaq has a gain of 3.41%.
Friday's Market Movers
U.S. stocks continued gains Friday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 reported record closing highs. In other news:
- Video game sales reported a record high of $4.6 billion in February.
- The Producer Price Index increased 0.5% in February following an increase of 1.3%. Year over year, the Producer Price Index increased 2.8% following an increase of 1.7%.
- The Core Producer Price Index (excluding food and energy) increased 0.2% in February following an increase of 1.2%. Year over year, the Core Producer Price Index increased 2.5% following an increase of 2%.
- The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index increased to 83 in March from76.8.
- The Baker Hughes weekly oil rig count showed a decrease of one rig in the U.S., a decrease of 25 rigs in Canada, and an increase of 24 rigs internationally.
Across the board:
- Tesla (TSLA, Financial) -0.84% on advancements in India and a lawsuit over erratic tweets.
- Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) -0.58% on email hacking concerns and a possible leak that may have lead to the hacking issues.
- S&P 500 Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE, Financial) +1.72%
- Novavax (NVAX, Financial) +8.07% with positive COVID vaccine developments.
- Lending Club (LC, Financial) +18.14%
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Financial) +0.30% with worldwide vaccine emergency use authorization by the World Health Organization.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,352.79 for a gain of 14.25 points or 0.61%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,397.66 for a gain of 12.01 points or 0.87%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 15,357.44 for a gain of 29.85 points or 0.19%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 11,448.40 for a gain of 145.09 points or 1.28%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,646.34 for a gain of 25.22 points or 0.96%; the S&P 100 at 1,786.83 for a loss of 2.22 points or -0.12%; the Nasdaq 100 at 12,937.29 for a loss of 115.61 points or -0.89%; the Russell 3000 at 2,384.01 for a gain of 3.27 points or 0.14%; the Russell 1000 at 2,229.54 for a gain of 2.24 points or 0.10%; the Wilshire 5000 at 41,623.39 for a gain of 67.72 points or 0.16%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 817.55 for a gain of 12.18 points or 1.51%.
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