The broad S&P 500 ended with its best quarter since 2019, despite a relatively flat Maundy Thursday. The closing price is also a new top quote.
Today 14:30
Updated less than 20 minutes ago
This is how the last trading day of the quarter ended on Wall Street:
- The collective index S&P 500 rose 0.11 percent, which is again a new record
- The technology index Nasdaq fell 0.12 percent
- The Dow Jones ended up 0.12 percent
North Sea oil (burnt spot) is traded at 21:00 Norwegian time for 86.82 dollars a barrel, which is an increase of 1.46 percent since midnight.
Strong quarter
All three of the most important indices on Wall Street have put a strong quarter behind them, driven by, among other things, AI shares and optimism about interest rate cuts from the US central bank.
The S&P 500 index is up 10 percent in the first quarter, according to CNBC. We have to go back to 2019, then with 13.1 per cent growth in the first quarter, to find better. On Thursday, it ended with a new top score, which it also did on Wednesday.
The company that gained the most on the broad index on Thursday was cosmetics company Estée Lauder. The company eventually rose 6.3 percent after receiving a buy recommendation from Bank of America.
The Nasdaq, on the other hand, is up 9.3 percent so far this quarter.
AI favorite Nvidia has delivered strongly and is up 82 percent in the first quarter and 14 percent in March alone.
Donald Trump’s media company went public on Tuesday. The company rose 15 percent in its debut to a market value of just under 8 billion dollars. The ex-president himself owns 60 percent of the company.
On Thursday, it ended with a fall of more than 6.4 percent for the Trump Media & Technology Group.
Inflation figures coming
On Friday, the stage is set for the February figures for PCE inflation, the US central bank’s preferred inflation target.
PCE inflation came in at 2.4 percent in January, while according to Bloomberg’s calculations, analysts expect a rise of 2.5 percent for February.
– The PCE numbers on Friday are more important than usual because they will show whether the latest inflation numbers this year were just temporary setbacks or the beginning of a new trend of higher inflation over time, says Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at the Independent Advisor Alliance, to Reuters.
