In November, the United States added 227,000 non-farm jobs, surpassing expectations, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, aligning with forecasts. The S&P 500 closed up 0.3% at 6,090, and the Nasdaq climbed 0.8% to 19,859, both reaching record highs. Conversely, the Dow Jones fell by 0.3% to 44,642.
For the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained approximately 1% and 3.3% respectively, while the Dow Jones decreased by 0.6%. Tech stocks saw widespread gains with Tesla (TSLA, Financial) rising 5.3%, Meta (META) and Amazon (AMZN) up over 2%, and Alphabet (GOOG) increasing by 1.3%. However, Nvidia (NVDA) dropped 1.8%.
Strong-performing stocks like Lululemon (LULU) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA) rallied by 16% and 9% respectively, following positive sales forecasts. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) surged 10.6% on exceeding revenue expectations and strong server business growth.
