All three US benchmarks posted a week of strong gains, with the Dow Jones finishing 0.6% higher on Friday.
The S&P 500 outperformed, gaining 1% while the Nasdaq jumped 0.7% after shares in Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) finished over 15% higher.
The cloud computing and infrastructure application provider reported a US$1.25 billion loss but surging revenue growth, which saw sales increase 22% in its core business.
Inflation highest in 40 years
All eyes were on the November inflation print with some experts predicting a rate in excess of 7%.
The end result was a 6.8% increase in prices over the last 12 months, the fastest rate in close to 40 years.
As this was below expectations, the market actually rallied post the announcement.
A closer look shows the main source of inflation remains the increasing cost of energy, 30% contribution, with motor vehicles around 20%.
US stock markets post strong weekly gains
Over the week the consumer and technology business continued to dominate, with the Dow Jones gaining 4%, the S&P 500 3.8% and the Nasdaq up 3.6% despite signs of the rollout of new COVID-19 restrictions around the world.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Friday to close out the week.
- Ford (NYSE: F) up 9.6%
- Costco (NASDAQ: COST) up 6.6%
- Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) up 3.5%
- Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) down 6.5%
- Sea (NYSE: SE) down 6.6%
- Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST) down 10.5%
This positive lead from US markets is set to push the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) higher at the open this morning. For a round-up of the latest news, check out my ASX 200 morning report.