Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Hit Record Highs
Strong gains for blue chips such as JPMorgan Chase and Travelers pushed the S&P 500 and Dow to new heights.
Stocks finished the holiday-shortened week with a bang as market participants cheered a comparatively upbeat reading on consumer sentiment. A round of well-received earnings reports also helped boost equities heading into the weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 37,863 – a new record close – and the S&P 500 gained 1.2% to 4,839, easily slicing through its previous record close set back on January 3, 2022. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.7% to 15,310, but remains 4.6% below its closing peak of 16,057.44 set in November 2021.
The main indexes started climbing higher mid-morning after the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index jumped 13.1% from December to January. At 78.8, the index's January reading is the highest since July 2021.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
"Consumer views were supported by confidence that inflation has turned a corner and strengthening income expectations," the report said. "Over the last two months, sentiment has climbed a cumulative 29%, the largest two-month increase since 1991 as a recession ended."
JPMorgan's Dimon gets a big pay raise
In single-stock news, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, +1.7%) was one of the top-performing blue chip stocks following news of CEO Jamie Dimon's big pay hike. The board of the largest U.S. bank by total assets approved a $36 million compensation package for the exec, up from $34.5 million in 2022.
According to a regulatory filing, Dimon's pay package includes an annual base salary of $1.5 million and $34.5 million in "performance-based variable incentive compensation."
The board cited Dimon's "stewardship of the Firm" as it posts record financial results and boasts a "fortress balance sheet" as reasons for the pay increase. "In addition, the Firm successfully navigated and supported its clients and customers through the regional bank turmoil as well as completed the acquisition of First Republic," the filing said.
While today's gains for JPM were indeed impressive, it was Travelers Companies (TRV, +6.7%) that was the best Dow Jones stock. The property casualty insurer said fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled on a year-over-year basis to $7.01 per share. Revenue was up 13.6% to $10.9 billion. Both figures beat analysts' estimates.
Q4 GDP, Tesla earnings on deck
Next week will be a busy one. On the economic front, Wall Street will get its first look at fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP). The data, which is due out Thursday morning, is expected to show economic growth slowed to 2% or less in the fourth quarter "a robust 4.9% rise in the third quarter," writes Kiplinger economist David Payne in his GDP forecast. "That will bring 2023's growth rate to 2.4%, better than 2022's 1.9%."
Meanwhile, Netflix (NFLX, -0.5%) and Tesla (TSLA, +0.2%) headline a jam-packed earnings calendar. Analysts are anticipating strong top- and bottom-line growth for the streaming giant, while the electric vehicle maker is expected to post a sharp drop in profits.
Related content
Get Kiplinger Today newsletter — free
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.
-
Eight Key Steps to Take When Investing in the Stock Market
The stock market can be a confusing place for beginners, but it doesn't have to be.
By Kiplinger Advisor Collective Published
-
Confused by Annuities? Making Sense of the Different Types
Many investors aren't sure if annuities are a good option for meeting financial goals. Let's look at the different categories, along with their pros and cons.
By Kris Maksimovich, AIF®, CRPC®, CPFA®, CRC® Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Slip Ahead of Mega-Cap Earnings
GE Aerospace shares soared after earnings while United Parcel Service stock slumped.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Mega-Cap Tech Rallies to Drag Markets Higher
Markets focused on upcoming earnings from Magnificent 7 stocks rather than chaos in D.C.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Tumble After Spectacular Global Internet Crash
Market participants rushed out of risk assets to end a wild week of trading.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Sinks 533 Points as Big Banks, Mega Caps Slump
Goldman Sachs and Apple were two of the worst-performing blue chip stocks on Thursday.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Semis Get Slammed and Blue Chips Bounce
The potential for more curbs on tech sales to China set off a rotation into blue chips.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Spikes 742 Points After UnitedHealth Earnings
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also scored wins Tuesday albeit with much smaller gains than the blue chip Dow.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Adds 210 Points as Apple, Goldman Hit New Highs
A big rally in blue chips and some dovish Fed speak boosted the equities market Monday.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Markets Bounce Back on Rate-Cut Optimism
The latest readings on consumer sentiment and inflation helped lift the odds of the Fed easing in September.
By Dan Burrows Published