Nasdaq Moves Sharply Higher, S&P 500 Climbs Further Above 5,000

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session and have seen further upside over the course of the trading day on Friday. The Nasdaq has shown a particularly strong advance, while the S&P 500 has reached a new record intraday high above 5,000.

Currently, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq is up 177.74 points or 1.1 percent at 15,971.45 and the S&P 500 is up 20.24 points or 0.4 percent at 5,018.15.

The narrower Dow has bucked the uptrend, however, with the blue chip index slipping 78.54 points or 0.2 percent at 38,647.79 amid a notable pullback by Disney (DIS).

The strength on Wall Street partly reflects a positive reaction to data from the Labor Department showing a modest downward revision to consumer price growth in December.

The revised data showed the consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in December compared to the previously reported 0.3 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the increase by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, was unrevised at 0.3 percent.

Overall trading activity remains somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data keeping some traders on the sidelines.

Traders may be reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of key data next week, including reports on consumer and producer price inflation, retail sales and industrial production.

Among individual stocks, shares of Cloudflare (NET) are soaring after the cloud services provider reported fourth quarter results that beat expectations and provided upbeat guidance.

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark (CLSK) has also spiked after reporting an unexpected fiscal first quarter profit on better than expected revenues.

Meanwhile, shares of Pinterest (PINS) have moved sharply lower after the image-sharing company reported weaker than expected fourth quarter revenues and provided disappointing guidance.

Sector News

Semiconductor stocks are extending the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions, resulting in a 1.6 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index is on pace to end the session at a record closing high.

Computer hardware and software stocks also continue to see considerable strength, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Brokerage and retail stocks have also moved notably higher on the day, while energy stocks have come under pressure despite a continued increase by the price of crude oil.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance, with markets including China and South Korea closed for holidays. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly lower on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session after seeing early strength. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.179 percent.