Dow Jones, S&P 500 rise on strong US manufacturing data; Gap jumps 15%, while Alphabet and NVIDIA slide

US equity benchmarks rose on Friday as investors’ sentiments were boosted by positive economic data from the world’s biggest economy. 

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up just 0.1%. 

All the benchmarks were headed for a more than 1% weekly gain this week.

This marked a change from last week when the major averages fell after a post-election rally. 

According to a report by CNBC, Friday’s moves in Wall Street were a continuation of a trend where investors shifted exposure to other economically sensitive corners of the market from major tech companies. 

Tech stocks struggled on Friday with both major companies, NVIDIA Corp and Alphabet slipping during the trading session. 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin neared the long-awaited $100,000 mark, while the Russel 2000 climbed 1%. The Russel 2000 index was on track to end the week with more than 4% gains. 

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research told CNBC:

Investors are rotating out of the previous high flyers of large-cap communication services and technology and into other cyclical sectors of consumer discretionary, industrials, and financials, as well as mid- and small-cap stocks. 

Purchasing managers index rise in November

Activity in both the manufacturing and services sectors in the US rose during November. 

The flash PMI reading for services moved up to 57.0, a two-point increase from October and the highest reading in 32 months. 

On the manufacturing side, the index nudged higher to 48.8, up slightly from October and the highest level in four months.

The manufacturing reading met the Dow Jones estimate while the services index was slightly better than the 55.0 forecast.

The indexes measure the percentage of companies reporting growth, so anything above 50 represents expansion.

Gap, and Ross retail stocks gain 

Shares of both retail stocks Gap and Ross rose on Friday after posting positive earnings results on Friday. 

Shares of Gap rose 15% after the company beat estimates on the top and bottom lines. The retail store also raised its full-year sales guidance. 

Meanwhile, shares of Ross gained 7% after the company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.48. Analysts with LSEG projected earnings of $1.40 per share. 

Alphabet, NVIDIA drops

Shares of Alphabet dropped nearly 2% on Friday, extending steep losses from Thursday’s session. 

Shares dropped as the Department of Justice argued to a judge that the company was monopolizing online searches. 

Additionally, shares of NVIDIA Corporation also dropped more than 3% on Friday as investors remained unimpressed about the company’s revenue forecasts. 

The decline of both prominent shares in the US weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. 

Meanwhile, Intuit lost 4.7% after the TurboTax parent projected second-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates on Thursday.