Nasdaq jumps to lead Dow, S&P 500 higher as techs, rate-cut hopes revive

Investment adviser Vanguard will pay more than $100 million to settle charges of misleading statements related to target-date retirement funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday.

These accusations stem from a decision by Vanguard in late 2020 to lower the initial investment minimum for targeted institutional pension funds. After a large number of retirement plan investors switched from their investment plans to institutional plans, the underlying assets had to be sold to meet the demand for these redemptions. Retail investors who did not switch to institutional target funds were exposed to “historically larger capital gains distributions and tax liabilities, and were deprived of the potential exponential growth of their investments,” according to the SEC.

Vanguard told Yahoo Finance in a statement that it was pleased to reach this settlement.

The SEC said that the settlement amount will be distributed to affected investors.

Bitcoin bulls were back in control on Friday, with the price of the dominant cryptocurrency rising above $100,000 as investors expected more action from President-elect Donald Trump to support the industry.

Trump is expected to issue an executive order prioritizing cryptocurrency policy during his first days in office, according to reports, as well as appoint business-friendly officials to oversee the continued rollout of digital currency in the broader economy.

In addition to the rise in the value of cryptocurrencies, many companies associated with the ecosystem are making the news. Coinbase (COIN), the country’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, rose 5% on Friday. Shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR), which continues to invest heavily in bitcoin, rose 7%.

Trump has also expressed interest in creating a cryptocurrency reserve in the United States, appointing a cryptocurrency administrator and implementing other regulations to drive adoption. The pro-growth approach contrasts with what was widely seen as an adversarial relationship between the Biden administration and the cryptocurrency industry.

The final trading day of the Biden era is shaping up to be strong gains on Friday, as optimism over the inauguration of President-elect Trump, and the policy changes that will follow, coincides with impressive corporate earnings and a rosy outlook for interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 1.1% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1.2%, after a losing day for major metrics. The high-tech Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose more than 1.7% as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) returned to the green.

Stocks are on track for big weekly gains after a big rally on Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) pulled back to trade at around 4.6% on Friday.

Here are some of the stocks topping Yahoo Finance’s ETFs page during morning trading on Friday.

dead (dead): Shares of the social media platform rose more than half a percent on Friday morning after a decision by the US Supreme Court to uphold a law that could lead to rival short-video app TikTok being banned in the United States. The TikTok ban will take effect on Sunday, January 19, unless its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance withdraws from the platform.

Novo Nordisk (Non-governmental organizations): The drugmaker has come under pressure after some of its drugs were listed for Medicare price negotiations in 2027. Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, were among the names. Shares fell more than 4%.

intel (Intech): Shares of the beleaguered tech giant rose 8% on Friday afternoon as speculation spread online that the company had become a takeover target, based on a report from Almost accurate Friday. Intel stock lost more than half its value over the past year.

Coinbase (currency): The country’s largest cryptocurrency platform is once again being supported by rising Bitcoin prices. The price of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) surpassed $100,000 again on Friday following reports that President-elect Donald Trump is planning to issue an executive order elevating cryptocurrencies as a political priority.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its second round of drug negotiation targets, a list of 15 drugs under Medicare Part D, including Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) blockbuster GLP-1s, Anjalee Khemlani reports From Yahoo Finance.

Novo traded down 4% following the news on Friday.

Diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy top the list, along with a number of others such as Merck’s (MRK) diabetes drug Janumet.

Read more about the next round of drug price negotiations here.

It is unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will respect this list and process or change it after assuming power on January 20.

Novo Nordisk currently has 55% of the GLP-1 market and took in $50 billion from the two drugs last year in the first three quarters alone.

The US Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok in the US as of Sunday unless it is sold to an owner not controlled by a foreign adversary, Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan and Daniel Howley report.

Friday’s ruling creates new uncertainty for the Chinese app used by 170 million Americans, but it could be a long-term boon for social media rivals for advertising dollars like Meta (META).

The court sided with the US government’s argument that ties between ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, and Beijing represented a national security threat, enabling Congress to demand its sale.

TikTok argued that it was entitled to First Amendment protection and that its proprietary algorithm was in fact editorial expression that qualified as speech.

The court’s decision will likely leave TikTok’s fate in the hands of Donald Trump, who has promised to “save TikTok” and asked the court to suspend the divestment deadline. The president-elect takes office on January 20, one day after the ban goes into effect.

Read more here.

A rebound in technology stocks led to a jump on Wall Street on Friday as investors greeted a week of positive inflation readings and impressive corporate earnings, shifting market sentiment back towards optimism as the Federal Reserve weighs interest rate setting policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.7%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1%, after a losing day for major metrics. The high-tech Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose more than 1.6% as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) returned to the green.

Markets have become optimistic as investors evaluate major banks’ earnings and inflation readings in recent days, which they have Bets that have been revived Interest rate cuts. Stocks are on track for big weekly gains after a big rally on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) fell to 4.6% on Friday.

Housing starts rose in December, supported by a rebound in multifamily construction.

Data from Census Bureau It showed that housing jumped 15.8% in December to an annual rate of 1.49 million, higher than economists’ expectations for an annual rate of 1.32 million.

Single-family beginnings have made modest progress. Construction rose 3.3% to an annual rate of 1.05 million, the strongest pace since February 2024. Meanwhile, multifamily housing construction grew about 62%.

“Housing starts rose at the end of the year, but that does not mean the country is out of the woods when it comes to problems in the residential housing sector,” Christopher Rupke, chief economist at FWDBONDS, wrote after the release.

“There is still a housing shortage in the country, and residential home construction remains historically low,” the economist added.

To this point, new construction in 2024 has been the slowest since 2019, per Bloomberg. Despite the high rates, builders are dealing with high rates on mortgages. Mortgage interest rates rose to 7.04% this week, hitting their highest levels since May 2024, Freddie Mac said. Home loan interest rates tend to follow U.S. Treasury yields, which have been rising after strong employment data.