S&P 500 notches first record high in two years in tech-driven run
CBSN
The stock market rallied to record highs on Friday, with Wall Street buoyed by investor expectations of interest rate cuts ahead by the Federal Reserve and robust corporate profits.
With technology stocks driving early year gains, the S&P 500 rose 1.2% to a record 4,839, sailing above the broad index's prior closing high of 4,796 in January 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged nearly 400 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.7%.
"When the stock market last peaked, the Fed had yet to begin raising interest rates to combat inflation" Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate, said in an email. "In the two years since, we saw the fastest pace of interest rate hikes in 40 years. With inflation now moving back toward the target of 2%, the focus is on when the Fed will begin trimming interest rates."
Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, agreeing to review a lower court decision that upended the mechanism for funding programs that provide communications services to rural areas, low-income communities and schools, libraries and hospitals.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company's west Texas flight facility.