· S&P 500 blasts through 3,300 as tech stocks surge
The S&P 500 rallied through the 3,300 mark for the first time on Thursday and the other main U.S. indexes also surged to record highs, fueled by tech stocks, solid retail sales data and upbeat quarterly earnings from Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley (MS.N) jumped 6.6% to lead the S&P 500 after it beat quarterly profit estimates and raised its performance goals, closing out several big U.S. lenders’ earnings on a strong note.
Sentiment was further lifted by data that showed U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% in December, in line with economists’ estimates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI jumped 0.92% to end at 29,297.64 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.84% to 3,316.89.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 1.06% to 9,357.13, bringing its gain in 2020 to 4.29%.
· Markets in Asia rose on Friday, as traders wait for the release of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) numbers.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.54%, as major miners rose. Rio Tinto jumped about 2%, Fortescue Metals surged 2.27%. BHP Group advanced around 1%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.61%, with most sectors rising. The Topix advanced 0.39%.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.92%. Heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose around 1.81% and 2.32% respectively.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.22% in the morning.
All eyes will be on the release of China’s GDP data for the fourth quarter on Friday. A Reuters poll predicted 6% growth from a year earlier. That would be unchanged from the pace in the third quarter, which was believed to be its slowest GDP gain in at least 27½ years.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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