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Stock Market News for Nov 15, 2021

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U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, driven by a rally in tech stocks but all the major benchmarks snapped their five-week winnings streak amid growing worries of inflation that weighed on investors’ sentiment. For the day, all the three major indexes ended in positive territory.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 0.5% or 179.08 points to finish at 36,100.31 points.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% or 33.58 points to close at 4,682.85 points. Communication services and technology stocks were the best performers.

The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) gained 1.5%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) added 1.2%. Nine of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1% or 156.68 points to close at 15,860.96 points.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 7.76% to 16.29. A total of 10.32 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.94 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.29-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.19 -to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

Investors Shake off Inflation Worries

Stocks took a hit on Thursday following disappointing results from a few big names like The Walt Disney Company (DIS - Free Report) . Moreover, worries of accelerating inflation have been denting investors’ confidence. The consumer price index released earlier in the week showed inflation rising at its hottest pace in the last almost 30 years.

However, on Friday, investors started with renewed vigor, as they looked past disappointing economic data and shook off inflation worries to focus on the remainder of the earnings season. So far it has been a great earnings season and investors expect that remaining companies will also deliver impressive quarterly results.

Tech Stocks Rally

Friday’s gains were led by a rally in tech stocks. Facebook-parent Meta Platforms, Inc. gained 4%, while shares of Apple, Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) gained 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively. Microsoft has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Economic Data

In economic data, University of Michigan’s gauge of consumer sentiment, dropped to a reading of 66.8 in November, from October’s reading of 71.7. This marks the lowest read since 2011. The disappointing consumer sentiment number further added to the inflation worries.

Moreover, household inflation expectations for the upcoming one-year period of inflation rose to 4.9% in November from 4.8% in October. This is the highest level since 2008. However, expectations for inflation for the next five years remained steady at 2.9%.

In other economic reports released on Friday, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that 4.4 million people quit the jobs in November, hitting a record high for the third straight month.

Weekly Roundup 

All the three indexes snapped their five-week winning streak on concerns about inflation. The worries escalated after data showed earlier in the week that CPI rose 6.2% year-over-year to hit almost a 31-year high. This was also higher than the Fed’s target of 2%. 

For the week, Dow fell 0.6%, while the S&P 500 shed 0.3%. The Nasdaq declined 0.7%.


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