US benchmark equity indexes experienced notable gains on Friday, following President Donald Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which concluded without any minerals deal being finalized. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both rose by 1.6%, closing at 18,847.3 and 5,954.50, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a 1.4% increase, reaching 43,840.9. This upward trend spanned across all sectors, with financials leading the charge. Earlier in the day, President Zelenskyy departed the White House after what was reported as a heated exchange between both parties. The US is keen on gaining access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals as part of its broader strategy to mitigate the ongoing conflict between Kyiv and Russia. In a separate note, US Treasury yields experienced a decline, with the two-year rate falling by 9.1 basis points to 3.99%, and the 10-year rate decreasing by 7.7 basis points to 4.21%. From an economic perspective, the latest data indicates that US personal consumption expenditures dropped by 0.2% in January, following a previous increase of 0.8% in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
A consensus from Bloomberg had anticipated a gradual slowdown in spending growth, projecting it at 0.2% for January. The Federal Reserve’s core measure—excluding food and energy—experienced a deceleration to 2.6% in January, compared to 2.9% in December. However, sequentially, the core metric did witness a slight uptick, achieving a gain of 0.3%.
These figures aligned closely with analysts' predictions. TD Economics commented, "Broadly speaking, US households remain in good financial shape, supported by a still-healthy labor market and a significant wealth cushion. As long as this remains the case, we expect real consumer spending to stay resilient this year, with growth moderating to around 2%." In the corporate sector, NetApp saw the sharpest decline on the S&P 500, plunging 16%.
This drop came after the company revised its fiscal 2025 outlook downward late on Thursday. Dell Technologies experienced a 4.7% drop in its shares on Friday, even after reporting stronger-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Unfortunately, its revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates. In a positive light, AES shares surged nearly 12%, marking the best performance on the S&P 500 after the company presented an optimistic full-year earnings outlook, buoyed by a quarterly earnings beat. Monster Beverage also made headlines, being among the top gainers on the S&P 500 with a 5.3% rise, attributed to fourth-quarter sales exceeding market expectations due to increased prices and growing demand domestically. Additionally, West Texas Intermediate crude oil dipped by 0.4%, settling at $70.07 per barrel.
Precious metals also saw declines, as gold fell by 1% to $2,868.10 per troy ounce, and silver decreased by 1.2% to $31.72 per ounce..