US stock market indices rose strongly in the last month
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| S&P 500 index rose for the fourth straight week |
The S&P 500 index ended the weekend trading session, Friday, February 2, at a new record high, after the quarterly results of technology companies, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, exceeded expectations, and after a much better January jobs report than Expected. The index rose 1.1% to close at 4,959 points, higher than its previous record close of 4,928 reached on Monday.
In the same context, the Dow Jones Industrial added 134.58 points, or 0.4%, closing at 38,654 points, which is also a record close. Likewise, the Nasdaq index rose by 1.7% to 15,629 points.
Shares of Meta rose more than 20% after the social media giant's quarterly results beat analysts' expectations.
Facebook's parent company also announced it would pay a quarterly dividend for the first time, and authorized a $50 billion stock buyback program. Amazon shares also jumped 7.9% after the fourth-quarter earnings beat.
The rally in technology stocks helped shift investors' focus from a strong jobs report earlier Friday that dampened early rate cut bets.