Health Stocks Rise, Powering Wall Street to All-Time Highs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As trade deal hopes increase, health stocks increase, powering up Wall Street to record highs on Friday.

The main stock index of Wall Street closed at new all-time highs on Friday, powered up by the recent optimism regarding the potential reassurance over the tension on US-China trade talks and the massive gains from the healthcare industry.

One of the major stock indexes in the US, S&P 500, recorded its gains for six weeks straight. It’s the longest weekly streak S&P had for over two years. The Dow Jones index, on the other hand, recorded a reach on the 28,000-price point for the first time.

The market was supported by the comment from the economic adviser in the White House, Larry Kudlow, on Thursday when he said that the US and China trade talk is getting close to an agreement.

A chief investment officer from Glenmede in Philadelphia, Jason Pride, said that for today, it has been about optimism that surrounds the tension on trade talks.

The recent record highs for the stock market has been driven by factors including sales earnings topping expectations for October, interest rate cuts in Federal Reserve, and signs that the US economic growth is easing.

The industrial average for the Dow Jones rose to 0.8%, increasing 222.93 price point to 28,004.89. The S&P 500 index also ended with a 0.77% increase, gaining 23.83 points to 3,120.46. Nasdaq Composite also came up with a 0.73% increase, reaching 61.81 to 8,540.83.

Ten out of the 11 sectors under the S&P 500 also ended the week on a positive note. The healthcare sector proved as the top gainer with a 2.2% increase, recording its biggest one-day gain since January. Under the healthcare sector, the shares for UnitedHealth Group surged to 5.3% while Pfizer rose to 2.0% on Friday.

The price increase for stocks in Healthcare was supported by President Donald Trump’s praise on price transparency on healthcare services. According to Walter Todd, the gains on Friday was a catch-up trade from the underperformance of the sector in 2019, which was caused by the election and regulatory risks.

Further, there was also a 0.9% increase for the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index, hitting a record high. The optimism for the group was hardened by the decline in Nvidia shares, which was down by 2.7% after the report from the chipmaker.

The S&P 500 has already recorded 52 latest 52-week all-time highs and one latest low while Nasdaq has posted 121 new record highs and 108 lows.