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.
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"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.
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