Nasdaq and S&P 500 close at their highest points since early 2022

 Nasdaq and S&P 500 close at their highest points since early 2022

At the conclusion of the day, the S&P 500 was up 0.41% at 4,604.37 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.36% to 36,247.87, while the Nasdaq increased 0.45% to 14,403.97.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached their highest closing levels since the beginning of 2022 on Friday, after a robust US employment data that gave investors hope for a gentle landing for the economy.

Following the Labor Department's data indicating that nonfarm payrolls expanded by 199,000 jobs in November, instead of the anticipated growth of 180,000, investors conjectured that the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates in March.

In contrast to expectations of a 0.3% increase, average monthly wages increased by 0.4%, while the jobless rate decreased to 3.7%.

Interest rate futures indicate that traders generally anticipate the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates at its meeting next week, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Traders now anticipate the Fed will begin reducing rates in May, two months after the March meeting that many investors were wagering on in the last few days, according to futures pricing.

"The decline in the unemployment rate would particularly ease any recession concerns, and with both payrolls and earnings rising, it puts the'soft landing' story at the very top," said Equity Capital's head macroeconomist, Stuart Cole. in London.

Cole said that some of the people who had predicted early Fed rate reduction in 2019 would change their minds in light of the research.

At the conclusion of the day, the S&P 500 was up 0.41% at 4,604.37 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.36% to 36,247.87, while the Nasdaq increased 0.45% to 14,403.97.

The closing price of the Nasdaq was the highest since April 2022, while the closing price of the S&P 500 was the highest since March 2022.

The S&P 500 gained 0.21% for the week, which is the longest winning run since November 2019. This is the sixth time in a row that the index has produced a weekly gain.

The Dow gained 0.01% for the week, marking the longest run of positive weeks since February 2019. This is the Dow's sixth consecutive weekly gain.

This week, the Nasdaq increased by 0.69%.

By the end of 2021, the Nasdaq is still 10% off its record high, while the S&P 500 is still 4% below its peak.

In Friday's session, Facebook's parent company Meta Platform and chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) both saw gains of around 2%.

Alphabet, parent company of Google, had a 1.4% decline in its shares, retreating from its previous session's AI-driven surge.

According to further statistics, consumer confidence in the US increased more than anticipated in December, capping a four-month downward trend.

Since late October, the US stock market has steadily increased due to positive quarterly results and expectations that the Fed has completed rising interest rates.

After the industrial company said it would pay $4.95 billion to acquire the security division of air conditioner manufacturer Carrier Global, Honeywell's stock dropped 1.6%. The carrier's stock increased by almost 4%.

Following rumors of acquisition interest in the media firm, Paramount Global saw a 12% increase in stock price. Discovery at Peer Warner Bros. increased 6.6%.

DocuSign increased 4.8% after the producer of e-signature tools increased its revenue projection for the year.

In the S&P 500, advancing items exceeded falling issues by a ratio of 1.5 to 1.

The Nasdaq had 104 new highs and 90 new lows, while the S&P 500 saw 33 new highs and no new lows.

On US markets, 11.0 billion shares were exchanged, which is in line with the preceding 20 sessions.