The S&P 500 index rose 1% last week, reaching new highs on gains in the consumer discretionary, communication services and technology sectors.
The remaining eight sectors in the S&P 500 fell on a weekly basis, yet the market benchmark ended Friday’s session at a new closing high. It is now up nearly 28% for the year to date.
The weekly climb was driven by gains in retailers such as Lululemon Athletica (LULU) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA), companies that released better-than-expected fiscal quarterly results. The S&P 500 also got a boost from the shares of Meta Platforms (META) as a federal appeals court on Friday in Washington upheld a new U.S. law that would result in a U.S. ban of TikTok if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell the social media app by a January 19 deadline.
Also on Friday, data showed U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 227,000 in November, surpassing a Bloomberg survey’s expected increase of 220,000 jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in November from 4.1% in October, compared with expectations for no change. However, the labor force participation rate slipped to 62.5% from 62.6% in the previous month.
The consumer discretionary sector had the largest percentage increase of the week, rising 5.9%, followed by a 4.1% increase in communication services and a 3.3% gain in technology.
On the downside, the energy sector fell 4.5%, followed by a 3.8% drop in utilities and a 3% decline in materials. Real estate, industrials, health care, financials and consumer staples also moved lower on a weekly basis.
Data due this week includes the November consumer price index on Wednesday and the November producer price index on Thursday. Earnings reports are expected from companies including Oracle (ORCL), Adobe (ADBE), Broadcom (AVGO) and Costco (COST).
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