U.S. stocks soared on Friday as investors parsed through a medley of corporate financial results and pondered the possibility Federal Reserve officials may ease aggressive rate increases sooner than anticipated.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) marched up 2.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rallied more than 700 points, or 2.5%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained 2.3%. Treasuries retreated after a relentless climb in recent days that saw the benchmark 10-year note temporarily rise above 4.3%, a level not seen since 2008.
In remarks at a meeting Friday, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said the U.S. central bank should avoid tipping the economy into an “unforced downturn” and that it was time to consider easing the pace of hikes.
Investors also assessed a Wall Street Journal report earlier in the day indicating Fed policymakers are poised to deliver another interest rate increase of 0.75% at their meeting Nov. 1-2 and but are expected to discuss the possibility of a smaller increase in December.
Even with the past two down days, equities closed the week out sharply higher thanks to mega rallies on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.
“We’re closer to the end than we are to the beginning, and the more bear market rallies we see, the fewer are left before we finally flush it all out,” SoFi’s Head of Investment Strategy Liz Young said in a note. “Still some more things to check off the list, but if or when earnings crack and just before economic data falls into contraction conditions, is when you start to pounce on market opportunities – that could be just around the corner.”
Third-quarter earnings season has so far held up better than many analysts have expected, with beats from companies like Netflix (NFLX), AT&T (T), and IBM (IBM) countered by big misses from names such as Snap (SNAP), which tumbled 28% Friday after disappointing Wall Street with its results.
The social media platform reported a fifth-straight quarterly deceleration, along with lackluster profits and a warning that sales trends in the current three-month period may get worse.
“It’s difficult to parse out how many of Snap’s issues are transitory,” Jefferies analyst Brent Thill said in a note. “The weakening macro backdrop is partially to blame for soft results, but we question how much is due to the iOS privacy issues and competitive threats.”
Snap’s declines also extended to other social media and tech peers Friday, with shares of Meta (META) down 1.1% and Twitter (TWTR) shares off nearly 5%.
