The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index rose to new highs on Friday as market participants ended the strongest month of 2024 so far. The Dow added nearly 200 points and the S&P 500 rose about 0.6%, both notching both intraday and closing highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also advanced 0.8%.

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.56% or +33.70 points to 6,032.44

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.42% or +188.59 points to 44,910.65

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.83% or +157.69 points to 19,218.17

Green November:

November's strength can be mostly attributed to President-elect Donald Trump's election victory earlier in the month and the strong muli-session rally that followed. The Dow rose above 7% for the month, adding 1.4% for the week, while the S&P and Nasdaq ended the month morethan 5% and 6% higher, respectively.

Moving Markets:

Semiconductor Stocks rose higher Friday on a Bloomberg News report that the Biden administration is considering further measures to restrict the sale of semiconductor equipment and artificial intelligence processors to China. According the the report, the restrictions under consideration are not as strict as previous proposals.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA  ), ASML Holding (ASML  ), Lam Research (LRCX  ), KLA Corporation (KLAC  ) and Applied Materials (AMAT  ) were all higher Friday, while Micron Technology shares were flat on reports that the restrictions could affect the chipmaker alongside some Taiwan-based companies and suppliers to Huawei Technologies.

In the News:

Microsoft (MSFT  ) shares were flat Friday on news that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened a broad antitrust investigation into the tech giant. According to Bloomberg News, the agency's probe is "hundreds of pages long," and focuses on how Microsoft bundles its cloud services with other software.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives believes the FTC's investigation into Microsoft is "more bark than bite," and should not be a cause for concern.

"For Microsoft, which has already been through its battle with the U.S. Government, we believer this FTC suit is much more bark than bite and ultimately will [fade] into the background once the new FTC chair is likely named by Trump for January," Ives wrote in a Friday note to clients. "There will still be questions and scrutiny of Microsoft and Big Tech but right now the Khan era ending is the best news for Big Tech which has been in the constant unrelenting focus of Khan and the FTC over the past few years."

"We also believe Musk having a front row seat in the Trump White House will be a big positive for Big Tech and the broader AI trade with Mag 7 front and center," he continued. "Apple and the DOJ will soon have more battles in the court system but ultimately we believe Big Tech emerges from these legal and Beltway battles with some scrapes and bruises...but nothing more concerning that disrupts the bullish tech trade and AI Revolution thesis into 2025 and beyond."