** S&P 500 ascends 4th consecutive week, adds 1.5% as economic data fuels rate cut optimism
** Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 40,000 mark for first time, and SPX and Nasdaq both score new records
** This as the benchmark Treasury yield tumbles, tests 200-day moving average
** But is the Nasdaq throttling up into thin air?
** Indeed, NYSE breadth breathes easy, Nasdaq not so much
** Vast majority of sectors climb; Tech and dividend-payers vault, while just Consumer Discretionary and Industrials drag
** Tech powers up 2.9%. Advanced Micro Devices
rises as Microsoft offers AMD alternative to Nvidia AI processors
Semiconductor index leaps ~4%
** Communication Services advance 1.7%. Google-owner Alphabet up after unveiling beefed-up AI search and chatbot
** Financials lift 1.4%. Insurer Chubb hits all-time high after Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals $6.7 bln stake
** Utilities up 1.2%. AES Corp jumps after selling its Brazilian operations to power co Auren . Utilities: Has the switch flipped in their favor?
** Consumer Staples up 0.7%. Walmart surges to record high on strong annual forecast
** Consumer Discretionary ticks down 0.1%. Home Depot falls on bigger-than-expected Q1 same-store-sales drop as customers delay big projects
** Industrials sag 0.4%. Deere falls after second 2024 profit forecast cut, as farmers buy few fewer tractors, combine harvesters as crop prices decline
** Meanwhile, GameStop and AMC Entertainment soar, then sink as meme stocks rally deflates
** SPX performance YTD:
(Lance Tupper and Terence Gabriel are Reuters market analysts. The views expressed are their own)
((lance.tupper.tr.com@reuters.net lance.tupper@tr.com terence.gabriel.tr.com@reuters.net terence.gabriel@tr.com))
Comments