U.S. stocks ended another positive week on Friday.
The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to close at 5,222.68, marking its third consecutive week of gains after a tough April. In the morning, it looked set for a bigger increase, but this momentum faded after a disappointing report on U.S. consumer sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 39,512.84, while the Nasdaq composite slipped less than 0.1% to 16,340.87.
The S&P 500 is now just 0.6% below its all-time high, boosted by renewed hopes that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates this year. Stronger-than-expected earnings reports from major U.S. companies have also supported the market.
Gen Digital surged 15.3% after reporting better-than-expected profits for the first quarter of 2024.
NYSE (Via Riley Jacks/Shutterstock)
The company, known for Norton and LifeLock, also announced a plan to buy back up to $3 billion of its own stock, joining a growing list of companies making such moves to enhance earnings per share for investors.
Novavax nearly doubled its stock price, rising 98.7%, following news of a deal with Sanofi potentially worth over $1.2 billion. The agreement allows co-commercialization of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine globally, except for certain areas. Novavax also reported a smaller loss for the quarter compared to analysts’ expectations.
These gains helped offset an 11% decline for Akamai Technologies, which exceeded profit expectations but fell short on revenue. The company, specializing in cloud computing, security, and content delivery, also provided financial forecasts for the upcoming year that were lower than analysts had predicted.
