Stocks rose on Friday, boosting both the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite to their strongest week of the year so far as market participants prepare for the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy meeting. The broader market index rose 0.5% and the tech-heavy index climbed about 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced nearly 300 points.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.54% or +30.26 points to 5,626.02
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.72% or +297.01 points to 41,393.78
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.65% or +114.30 points to 17,683.98
For the Week:
The S&P 500 rose 4% and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.9%, marking the best week in 2024 for both indexes. The Dow also advanced 2.6% on the week.
In Single-Stock News:
Boeing's (NYSE: BA) factory workers went on strike after midnight on Friday, halting production after staff rejected a new labor contract. Workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon voted 94.6% against a tentative agreement the Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers published on Sunday, with 96% of workers voting in favor of a strike.
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) shares rallied after the company increased its 2026 revenue guidance and issued a strong forecast for fiscal 2029. The company now sees at least $66 billion in revenue for fiscal 2026, coming in ahead of analysts. Moreover, Oracle sees $104 billion in revenue for fiscal 2029 on year-over-year earnings per share growth of 20%.
On the Earnings Front:
Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) reported strong third-quarter earnings on Thursday, but shares came under pressure after the creative software platform maker issued weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance. For its current quarter, Adobe expects earnings per share between $4.63 and $4.68 on revenue in the range of $5.5 billion and $5.55 billion, coming below analysts polled by LSEG forecast of $4.67 earnings per share on $5.61 billion in revenue.
"In Q3, Adobe delivered cash flows of over $2 billion and exited the quarter with record RPO, demonstrating the power of combining growth with world-class profitability," said CFO Dan Durn in a statement. "Given the massive markets we are catalyzing, I'm confident in our ability to drive growth and industry leadership."
RH (NYSE: RH) shares jumped over 20% on Friday after the home furnishing retailer reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results. CEO Gary Friedman said in a letter to shareholders that demand "accelerated into the third quarter," and RH expects that momentum to continue into 2025.
Looking Ahead:
Market participants are now looking ahead towards the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Sept. 17-18, with policy makers expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points; the Fed's current target rate is between 5.25% to 5.5%.