Despite a furor set off by President-elect Donald J. Trump’s latest pronouncements about tariffs and immigration, the stock market resumed its upward surge in holiday-shortened trading on Friday, propelling the benchmark S&P 500 to its best monthly gain since November 2023.
The market retreated briefly earlier in the week after Mr. Trump declared that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico on his first day in office, as well as new 10 percent tariffs on China. He linked the tariffs to what he said was the need to curb the inflow of drugs and undocumented immigrants. The three countries protested — and after a short retreat, the market shrugged off the incident.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent on Friday, closing at a new high of 6,032.38, at 1 p.m., after a day off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Friday’s climb propelled the index to a gain of 1.1 percent for the week. It was the last trading day of November, and the index rose 5.7 percent for the month, according to FactSet.
That continued a surge that began even before the election, when Wall Street began to predict that Mr. Trump would win. His proposals for cutting taxes and easing the regulatory burden on businesses have been greeted with enthusiasm in the markets.
With one month left in 2024, the S&P 500 is up 26.5 percent for the year, and 32.6 percent for the past 12 months, sizzling returns by any measure.
Here’s what else to know about markets:
Bond yields, which had drifted upward earlier in the month, retreated, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling below 4.2 percent, according to FactSet.
Palantir was the best performer in the S&P 500 for the month with a gain of more than 60 percent. It has benefited from strong earnings and its status as a military contractor with a expertise in artificial intelligence.
Celanese, a chemical supplier, was the worst monthly performer, with a loss of almost 42 percent. The market punished a poor earnings performance and a warning by the company that it expected “persistent demand weakness” in key business segments in the months ahead.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 index rose on Friday and eked out its first monthly gain since May on expectations of a quarter point interest rate cut by the European Central Bank in December. The French CAC 40 share index was down 2.3 percent for the month, however, amid a budget and political crisis. French bond yields have risen, reflecting worries about the government’s fiscal problems.
The post Stocks Resume Post-Election Rise appeared first on New York Times.
