Dow rises 400 points, S&P 500 heads for best week since November as rates fall: Live updates

Shares of social media companies pulled back Monday, reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the ban on TikTok.

Snapchat tumbled more than 3% after the SCOTUS decision, and Meta Platforms fell more than 1%.

— Hakyung Kim, Nick Wells

Materials, energy and financials are all up 6% and more for the week, outperforming the S&P 500.

All sectors of the market are on pace to notch weekly gains.

The biggest underperformer is health care, which is up just 0.9% week to date.

— Hakyung Kim

The KraneShares China Internet ETF (KWEB) is up 3.2% Friday, slightly below its earlier high after the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the ban on TikTok.

The exchange-traded fund is pacing for its fourth positive session in the past five, as well as its best day since Dec. 9, 2024, when it gained 10%. It is also on pace to break a four-week losing streak, with its best weekly performance since early October 2024.

Kanzhun, Weibo, PDD Holdings and Tencent Music are among the stock leading the ETF higher.

— Hakyung Kim

Novo Nordisk shares are down more than 4% Friday after the company’s semaglutide — the active ingredient in both its diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus, and its obesity treatment Wegovy — was put on a list of drugs that would be included in Medicare’s next round of price negotiations.

Obesity drug stocks have struggled in recent months, hurt by slower-than-expected uptake, sales shortfalls and competition from compounded versions of GLP-1 medicines.

Separately, Barclays downgraded European pharma and life sciences stocks to neutral from positive, saying this week’s flurry of industry news wasn’t enough to revive investor interest. Analyst Emily Field’s advice: “Stick to high-quality stories in 1H25; revisit sector more broadly in the summer.”

Field said she likes Novo’s long-term story, but expects shares to be “choppy for a bit.” A big catalyst for the stock could come in June when the company is expected to provide more detailed clinical results for CagriSema, its next-generation weight loss drug. Investors were disappointed with the initial readout on the drug, but this more nuanced update may be more encouraging, according to Field.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

The recent market rally has reached an area of resistance, according to BTIG technical strategist Jonathan Krinsky.

“We felt it might get back to the 5900-5950, zone, and so far that’s exactly where the rally has stalled. Closing through ~5950, while not our base case, would open the door to a re-test of 6100-6150,” Krinsky said in a note to clients. The S&P 500 closed 5,937 on Thursday.

“Overall we are open to the rally expanding further, but our base case is that we stall here and turn lower again into month-end,” Krinsky added.

— Jesse Pound

Bank of America upgraded shares of American Airlines Group to a neutral rating from underperform on Friday, pointing to “solid premium revenues, a build back of corporate travel, and growth on Atlantic routes” as catalysts.

Analyst Andrew Didora accompanied the upgrade by raising his price objective to $20 from $12, implying a potential 9% upside for the stock. Shares of American Airlines have surged 41% over the past 12 months.

“Further, AAL could realize outsized benefit from the return of corporate travel given its $1.5B market share loss in 1H24,” Didora added. “As such, we no longer believe an Underperform rating is warranted and upgrade to Neutral, which balances the revenue potential with execution risk, in our view.”

On the other hand, the analyst downgraded shares of both Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways to underperform from neutral. He cited less exposure to corporate, premium and international routes, as well as a high historical valuation.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Industrial production and capacity utilization numbers both easily beat expectations in December, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

On the production side, factory output rose 0.9% for the month, topping the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% increase and beating the upwardly revised 0.2% increase for November.

Capacity utilization, a measure of efficient use of resources, improved to 77.6%, up 0.6 percentage points from the upwardly revised prior month and better than the estimate for 77%.

— Jeff Cox

U.S. stocks kicked off Friday’s trading session in the green.

The S&P 500 rose 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 304 points, or 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5%.

— Hakyung Kim

Underlying a stable global economic growth outlook for 2025 is a diverging picture between a strong U.S. economy and the rest of the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. 

Global growth is forecast at 3.3% for 2025 and 2026, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook released Friday. This remains below the historical average of 3.7% growth. The global fund raised its growth projections on the U.S. to 2.7%, which is 0.5% higher than its forecast from October, citing strong labor market trends and accelerating investment.

However, the “stable, albeit lackluster” growth estimate “hides divergent paths across economies and a precarious global growth profile,” the Washington-based IMF warned in its report. 

The prospect of widening interest rate differentials between regions such as the Euro area — where weak growth expectations are increasing rate cut expectations — versus the U.S., which is seeing more upside risks to inflation will continue strengthening the dollar against other major currencies. This raises risks of capital outflows and higher risk premiums for emerging market and developing economy countries, many of which are struggling with persistent inflation.

— Hakyung Kim

On Friday, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of chemical firm DuPont de Nemours to an outperform rating from peer perform. Analyst Chris Parkinson accompanied the move by setting a price target of $91, which is approximately 19% higher than where shares are currently trading.

While Dupont’s fundamentals are improving, Parkinson said the stock’s “current valuation is a bit harsh.”

“Shares are trading in a similar range as early 2024 when several of DD’s core businesses were in the throes of a deep de-stocking cycle, whereas the platform is now lapping 1H24 headwinds and the outlooks for 5 of 6 business lines appear constructive,” he wrote, adding that a sum-of-the-parts analysis suggests an attractive entry point.

Meanwhile, the absence of past headwinds in the medical packaging and water vertical provides a better outlook for the stock, as does strong growth in data center and artificial intelligence demand.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Housing starts rose at a much faster than expected pace in December even as mortgage rates climbed, the Census Bureau reported Friday.

Privately owned new construction totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.499 million, 11.3% above the November rate and well ahead of the Dow Jones estimate for 1.33 million.

On permits, the total of 1.482 million was slightly below the prior month but still above the forecast for 1.46 million.

Borrowing costs had been declining into December but turned higher after the Federal Reserve started cutting its benchmark rate. The 30-year mortgage rate recently edged above 7% for the first time since May 2024.

— Jeff Cox

Some stocks are making big moves in the premarket:

• J.B. Hunt Transport Services — Shares fell more than 7% after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings came in weaker than expected. J.B. Hunt earned $1.53 per share, below the LSEG consensus estimate of $1.61 per share. Meanwhile, revenue for the period came in line with expectations at $3.15 billion.
• Qorvo — The stock rose more than 7% after The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that activist investor Starboard Value has built a 7.7% stake in the company and is looking to make changes to boost the company’s share price.
• MoonLake Immunotherapeutics — The biotech stock jumped more than 4% after receiving an upgrade to buy from neutral at Goldman Sachs. The firm cited the anticipation of positive phase 3 trial data for its treatment of a chronic skin condition known as hidradenitis suppurativa.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

KeyBanc Capital Markets sees a rosy outlook ahead for both Applied Materials and Lam Research.

The investment firm upgraded both semiconductor stocks to an overweight rating from sector weight.

Analyst Steve Barger’s $225 price target for Applied Materials is approximately 21% higher than where the stock closed Thursday afternoon. Shares of Applied Materials have declined 27% since July 2024, which “better aligns valuation with current conditions,” Barger wrote.

“We think AMAT’s broad diversification, focus on novel materials, and leading market share in technologies enabling node transitions, improved chip efficiency, and Advanced Packaging position it well for an AI-driven growth cycle,” the analyst added.

Meanwhile, Barger’s $95 price target for Lam Research implies a nearly 20% potential upside. The analyst believes that due to its incumbency advantage, Lam is set to be the primary beneficiary as the NAND flash memory market invests in tool upgrades this year.

“We think LRCX’s more focused strategy on technology improvement for memory markets, mainly via etching tools, sets it up well for coming process transitions in DRAM, NAND, and (potentially underappreciated by the market) in Logic,” he wrote.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Flutter Entertainment‘s rise is just getting started, according to Stifel.

The investment firm initiated the sports betting and gambling stock at a buy rating. Analyst Jeffrey Stantial’s $320 target price corresponds to a 24% upside for shares of Flutter Entertainment.

Shares of Flutter Entertainment have surged 56% over the past 12 months. Nonetheless, Stantial said the stock’s valuation “remains attractive.”

Stantial wrote that he sees upside for Flutter “supported by TAM momentum, regulation driven consolidation, bottoming headwinds, and top-line synergies.”

— Lisa Kailai Han

Here’s where the major averages stand for the week ahead of Friday’s trading:

— Lisa Kailai Han

These are the stocks moving the most in extended-hours trading:

• J.B. Hunt Transport Services — The transportation stock shed 9% following a fourth-quarter earnings miss. J.B. Hunt’s earnings per share of $1.53 missed the $1.61 analysts polled by LSEG were expecting. The company’s revenue came in line with expectations. Shares of Old Dominion Freight Line slipped 2% in sympathy.
• Bank OZK — Shares added 1% after the regional bank reported a fourth-quarter earnings beat. Bank OZK’s earnings of $1.56 per share was above the $1.44 consensus estimate, according to FactSet. The bank’s net interest income of $379.4 million was also above StreetAccount’s estimate of $375.9 million.

— Lisa Kailai Han