The S&P 500 ended at a high for the month, and indices rose for the week as earnings kicked in

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq ended at their highest levels in a month on Friday, as shares of JPMorgan Chase and other banks rose following their quarterly results that kicked off the earnings season.

The three major indices also posted strong gains for the week, sending the S&P 500 up 4.2% so far in 2023, and the Cboe Volatility Index. (.VIX) – Wall Street fear gauge – closed at its lowest level in one year.

On Friday, the financials (.SPSY) It was among the sectors that gave the S&P 500 the most support.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) It beat quarterly earnings estimates, while Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) City Group Inc (CN) lower than quarterly earnings estimates.

But shares of all four companies rose, along with the S&P 500 banking index (.SPXBK)which increased by 1.6%. JPMorgan shares rose 2.5 percent.

However, the largest banks on Wall Street stockpiled more money for rainy days to prepare for a possible recession and reported weak investment banking results while showing caution about forecasting income growth. They said higher interest rates helped boost profits.

The strategists said investors will be watching for more guidance from company executives in the coming weeks.

“He’s shifted the focus to earnings,” said Peter Tose, chairman of Chase Investments in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Even though earnings were basically good, people are kind of holding back, and you’re going to see a wait-and-see situation with stocks” as investors hear more from company executives.

According to Refinitiv data, earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to decline year-over-year by 2.2% for the quarter.

Also providing some support to the market on Friday, the University of Michigan survey showed an improvement in US consumer confidence, with inflation expectations for one year in January falling to the lowest level since spring 2021.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) The S&P 500 index rose 112.64 points, or 0.33%, to 34,302.61. (.SPX) rose 15.92 points, or 0.40%, to 3,999.09, the Nasdaq Composite (nineteenth) It added 78.05 points, or 0.71%, to 11,079.16 points.

The S&P 500 closed at its highest level since December 13, while the Nasdaq closed at its highest level since December 14.

Over the course of the week, the S&P 500 is up 2.7% and the Dow is up 2%. The Nasdaq rose 4.8 percent, its biggest weekly percentage gain since November 11.

The US stock market will be closed on Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Thursday’s Consumer Price Index and other recent data fueled hopes that the continued downward trend in inflation could give the Federal Reserve room to backtrack on rate hikes.

Money market participants now see a 91.6% chance that the Fed will raise the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in February.

Among today’s losers, Tesla (TSLA.O) Shares fell 0.9% after it cut the prices of its electric cars in the United States and Europe by as much as 20% after it missed its 2022 delivery estimates.

In other earnings news, UnitedHealth Group Inc (OH.N) Shares rose after beating Wall Street’s forecast for fourth-quarter earnings, but the stock closed lower on the day.

Shares of Delta Airlines Inc (DAL.N) It fell 3.5% as the company expected lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

Trading volume on US exchanges reached 10.77 billion shares, compared to an average of 10.81 billion for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Advance issues outnumbered declining issues on the NYSE by a ratio of 1.79 to 1; On Nasdaq, the ratio was 1.78 to 1 in favor of advanced traders.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; The NASDAQ recorded 105 new highs and 8 new lows.

Additional reporting by Shubham Batra, Ankika Biswas and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru. Editing by Subranshu Sahu, Chunak Dasgupta and Grant McCall

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