Wall Street's third straight winning week came to a quiet close on Friday, per the AP, as stocks tacked a whisper more onto their sizzling gains for November.
- The Dow inched up by 1.81 to 34,947.28.
- The S&P 500 edged up by 5.78 points to 4,514.02 and is near its highest level in three months.
- The Nasdaq gained 11.81 to 14,125.48.
Several retailers made strong gains after reporting better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Gap surged 30.6% after reporting much higher profit than Wall Street had forecast, more than doubling its stock's gain for the year so far. Ross Stores climbed 7.2% after reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. On the losing end was BJ's Wholesale Club, which fell 4.8% despite also reporting better results than expected. Analysts pointed to an underlying sales figure that strips out the boost from store openings, which fell short of expectations.
Retailers are closing out what's been a better-than-hoped earnings reporting season for the summer. Companies in the S&P 500 are on track to report their first overall growth in a year, according to FactSet. But the much more impactful factor driving stocks higher this week was hope that inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to finally be finished with its market-crunching hikes to interest rates. The Fed has already raised its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001, trying to slow the economy and dent financial markets just enough to get inflation under control without causing a painful recession.
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