Stocks rose modestly on Friday to finish the week in positive territory. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 10 points, or 0.2%, to 4,070 for its third winning week in the last four. The Dow rose 28 points, or 0.08%, to 33,978, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 109 points, or 0.9%, to 11,621. Helping to lead the way was American Express, which jumped 12.1% despite reporting weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected, per the AP. It gave a forecast for earnings through 2023 that topped Wall Street’s expectations and announced a planned increase to its dividend.
Another big gain for Tesla's stock was also supporting the market. It rose 8.8% following its stronger-than-expected profit report for the end of 2022 released earlier in the week. Weighing on Wall Street were falling stocks across the chipmaking industry following a jolting warning from Intel. Not only did its revenue and earnings fall short of expectations last quarter amid a punishing slowdown in sales, it also gave a forecast for revenue this quarter that was more than $2 billion short of analysts' expectations. Intel fell about 7%. Hasbro also fell 7.6% after saying it “underperformed” in this past holiday shopping season and will likely report a 17% drop in revenue for the fourth quarter. The company will cut about 1,000 jobs to reduce costs.
Two competing big ideas have been sending Wall Street veering up, down and back again recently. On one hand are worries about a steep drop-off in profits and a severe recession for the economy following all the Federal Reserve's increases to interest rates last year meant to crush inflation. On the other are hopes that cooling inflation may allow the Fed to take it easier on rates. The market is partly trying to reconcile that weak earnings and a drop in demand may be necessary for inflation to keep cooling, said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.
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