Trader work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The Nasdaq Composite rose Friday, led by a post-earnings jump in Netflix, as Wall Street looked to close a record-setting week.
The tech-heavy index traded 0.7% higher, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, gaining 36 points, or 0.1%.
The three major averages were headed for their sixth straight positive week. That would mark the longest string of weekly advances in 2024 for both the Dow and S&P 500. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up around 0.6% week to date, and the Dow has climbed 0.5%.
Netflix climbed 10% on Friday after the streaming giant beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates in the third quarter, while reporting a 35% jump in ad-tier memberships from the prior three-month period. Procter & Gamble also reported better-than-expected earnings, while revenue fell short of estimates.
So far, more than 70 S&P 500 companies have reported earnings. Of those, 75% have beaten expectations, according to FactSet.
Despite an expected increase in volatility in the market leading up to the election, stocks may actually continue to rally through November, according to Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory. This would be atypical for an election year.
“Usually it’s the other way around — the market’s hesitant, and then it does well after the election. Now we’re getting the reverse of it and … Maybe you get the opposite of what we had — stocks will be strong into the election and then have some volatility fall on the election,” he said.
Williams attributed this outperformance to investors already pricing in a win from Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, whose policies would be more business friendly in terms of taxes and regulations.
