Unexpectedly Good Earnings Lead to Another Weekly Gain

Stock indexes notched modest gains Friday as the market wrapped up its second straight weekly gain. The Dow rose 27 points to 31,458, the S&P 500 rose 18 points to 3,934, and the Nasdaq rose 69 points to 14,095. Investors do not expect the market to move substantially higher in the near term until there's more clarity on the future of government stimulus and the direction of the economy, per the AP. US stock and bond markets are closed Monday for the federal holiday of Washington’s Birthday.

“We’re sort of awaiting catalysts,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “The market is still of the opinion that there will be a vaccine-led, broad economic recovery in the second half of this year.” A majority of companies have now reported their latest round of earnings and the results have been surprisingly good. Roughly 75% of companies in the S&P 500 have released results, showing overall growth of 2.8%, according to FactSet. That's a sharp reversal from the 13% contraction analysts had forecast in late September.

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