Wall Street’s major averages rose on Friday at the start of a shortened trading day.
At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.2%.
The Nasdaq Composite index was up 0.1% from the previous close.
David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said:
US exchanges were closed for the holiday and have a shortened session today, so markets should be quite thin and volumes low.
Despite this, investor sentiment remains positive as far as equities are concerned, and the ongoing pullback in bond yields is providing a welcome tailwind.
Some of the upside momentum on Friday came from the rise in chip stocks.
Chip stocks rose on Friday after Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration was considering additional barriers on the sale of semiconductor equipment to China that weren’t as strong as previously anticipated.
Friday’s rise in stocks comes as traders will look to close out the month on highs.
All three US benchmarks have risen sharply this month after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 US elections.
The Dow Jones has added more than 7% in November, which is the best month since November 2023, according to CNBC.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite will end the month with 5% gains each.
Tesla shares up 33% in November
Shares of Tesla have rallied 33% in November after Trump’s win.
The electric vehicle maker’s CEO has close ties with Trump, which is viewed by traders as a positive for the business.
The company returned to a $1 trillion market cap in November, and was also headed for its best month since January 2023.
Musk recently got assigned a starring role by Trump, leading a so-called Department of Government Efficiency along with Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, CNBC reported.
Chip equipment stocks rise
Shares of chip equipment stocks moved higher on the Bloomberg report.
The report said that President Joe Biden was considering more restrictions on sales of semiconductor equipment and AI memory chips to China.
According to the report, the restrictions could come as soon as next week and impact Micron Technology, along with some Taiwan-based companies and suppliers to Hauwei Technologies.
Shares of US-based companies such as Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA Corp rose sharply on Friday.
Shares of Applied Materials rose nearly 4%, while those of Lam Research popped close to 6%. Shares of KLA Corp rose more than 4%.
Meanwhile, prominent stock NVIDIA Corporation was also up nearly 3% on Friday.
Bullion set for worst month so far in 2024
Gold and silver prices were on track to close out November with hefty declines.
Most of the declines in the precious metal complex was due to a surging dollar after Trump’s election win.
Gold slipped more than 2% so far in November, which marks its worst month since September 2023, when it fell 5%.
Silver, meanwhile, has dropped 4% this month. This will mark the metal’s worst month since December of last year, when it fell more than 6%.
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