{"id":106371,"date":"2021-02-05T22:40:32","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T22:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=106371"},"modified":"2021-02-05T22:40:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T22:40:32","slug":"sp-500-nasdaq-post-biggest-weekly-gains-since-early-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/sp-500-nasdaq-post-biggest-weekly-gains-since-early-november\/","title":{"rendered":"S&P 500, Nasdaq post biggest weekly gains since early November"},"content":{"rendered":"
(Reuters) – U.S. stocks extended their recent rally on Friday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes scored their biggest weekly percentage gains since the U.S. elections in early November, boosted by optimism over earnings, stimulus talks and progress on vaccine rollouts.<\/p> Both the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 rose for a fifth straight session in their longest streak of gains since August, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted record closing highs for a second day in a row.<\/p>\n A smaller-than-expected rebound in the U.S. labor market last month highlighted the need for more government aid to shore up the economy. The Labor Department on Friday reported a 49,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls last month, but job losses in manufacturing and construction.<\/p>\n U.S. President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress moved ahead with their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package as lawmakers approved a budget plan that will allow them to muscle Biden\u2019s plan through in the coming weeks without Republican support.<\/p>\n \u201cThe upcoming package of stimulus is going to be big,\u201d said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc, an investment advisory firm based in Toledo.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a situation where there\u2019s a lot of cash on sidelines and bonds have really underperformed, so that\u2019s helped some sectors that have really done poorly.\u201d<\/p>\n Upbeat earnings this week have also supported investor optimism. So far, stronger-than-expected corporate results in the fourth quarter have driven up analysts\u2019 expectations, and S&P 500 companies are on track to post earnings growth for the period instead of a decline as initially expected.<\/p>\n The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.38 points, or 0.3%, to 31,148.24, the S&P 500 gained 15.09 points, or 0.39%, at 3,886.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 78.55 points, or 0.57%, at 13,856.30.<\/p>\n For the week, the S&P 500 gained 4.65%, the Nasdaq added 6.01% and the Dow increased 3.89%. The small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 7.7% for the week, its biggest weekly percentage gain since the week ended June 5.<\/p>\n The Cboe Volatility index fell and had its biggest weekly point drop since the week ended Nov. 6.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 technology index ended down 0.2% after hitting a record high earlier in the session.<\/p>\n Johnson & Johnson rose 1.5% after the drugmaker said it had asked U.S. health regulators to authorize its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.<\/p>\n Shares of GameStop Corp, caught in the recent social media-hyped trading frenzy, rose 19.2% on Friday, after online broker Robinhood lifted all the buying curbs imposed at the height of the battle between amateur investors and Wall Street hedge funds.<\/p>\n Clover Health Investments Corp shares ended up 5.7%. It said it would cooperate with a request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. U.S. regulators are following up on a report about Clover by short-selling specialist Hindenburg Research.<\/p>\n Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.33-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.94-to-1 ratio favored advancers.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 posted 34 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 286 new highs and four new lows.<\/p>\n Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.65 billion shares, compared with the 15.5 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.<\/p>\n