3 Minutes to Read (Reuters) – NEW YORK (Reuters) – On Friday, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose to new closing highs, as financials and other economically focused sectors recovered from a selloff prompted earlier in the week by growth concerns. People are visible on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, United States, on March 19, 2021. Brendan McDermid/Reuters The move helped the indices gain ground for the week, which also witnessed a significant rally in US Treasuries as investors concerned that the US economic recovery was losing speed as the Delta strain of the coronavirus spread around the world. The price of US 10-year Treasury notes dipped on Friday, ending an eight-day rally, but the S&P 500 financials sector rose 2.9 percent, the sector’s largest daily percentage gain since March 1. Sector increases were led by financials, followed by energy, materials, and industrials. When big banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co announce results next week, it will kick off the second-quarter earnings season. Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, stated, “What an about-face after all of the gloom and doom from yesterday.” “In comparison to the rest of the globe, the United States is in a bubble, deviating from COVID. We don’t know how long that will last, but “until that narrative changes, this is a market with a lot of free money and cheap interest rates,” he said.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 448.23 points, or 1.3 percent, to 34,870.16, the S&P 500 increased by 48.73 points, or 1.13 percent, to 4,369.55, and the Nasdaq Composite increased by 142.13 points, or 0.98 percent, to 14,701.92. The Dow has gained 0.2 percent this week, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have both gained 0.4 percent. A significant increase in quarterly earnings is expected to mark a high point in the recovery from last year’s pandemic-induced collapse in the United States. Investors are focusing on upcoming quarterly results from U.S. corporations as well as projections for the rebound in the second half of 2021, as some fear the recent economic surge is already diminishing. According to Refinitiv IBES data, analysts estimate profits growth of 65.8% for companies in the S&P 500 index in the third quarter, up from a previous forecast of 54 percent at the start of the period. (Graph: U.S. corporations are anticipated to have their best quarter in Q2, ) Individual stocks climbed 1.4 percent after Levi Strauss & Co anticipated a good full-year profit after topping quarterly profits projections on improved demand for jeans, shirts, and jackets throughout its markets. After four sessions of losses, shares of Didi Global Inc, a Chinese ride-hailing business, rose 7.3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange after the company was recently subjected to an inquiry by China’s internet authority. On U.S. exchanges, volume was 8.51 billion shares, compared to an average of 10.5 billion for the full session for the previous 20 trading days. On the NYSE, advancers exceeded decliners by a 3.77-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, advancers outpaced decliners by a 3.33-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 made 44 new 52-week highs while the Nasdaq Composite made 60 new highs and 32 new lows. In Bengaluru, Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal contributed additional reporting; Arun Koyyur, Aditya Soni, Maju Samuel, and David Gregorio edited the piece./n
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