US Stock Market Close: Nasdaq Rose Over 7% Last Week, Dow Recovered All Losses for the Year

On Friday (May 16), the US stock market opened higher and closed higher, with all three major indices ending the session in the green. The S&P 500 extended its winning streak to five days, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) recouped all its losses for the year.

At the close, the DJIA rose 0.78% to 42,654.74, turning its year-to-date performance from negative to positive, now up 0.26% for the year. The index had once fallen by approximately 14% earlier this year.

The S&P 500 gained 0.7% to close at 5,958.38, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.52% to 19,211.10.

On a weekly basis, the DJIA gained 3.41%, the S&P 500 rose 5.27%, and the Nasdaq surged 7.15%. The Nasdaq's outperformance was mainly driven by strong performance in tech stocks, with Nvidia up 16.07% for the week, Meta up 8.08%, and Apple up 6.55%.

Earlier in the week, high-level economic and trade talks between China and the US reached important consensus and made substantive progress, directly reflected in a significant reduction in bilateral tariff levels. Financial markets responded positively, and the S&P 500 has continued its upward trend since then.

Ivan Feinseth, Chief Investment Officer at Tigress Financial Partners, said, "The stock market's gains this week are entirely due to trade optimism easing fears of an economic recession. However, the current risk is that unpredictable events could still occur in the trade war."

During Friday's trading session, all three major indices briefly turned negative. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to its second-lowest level on record, with respondents also expecting US prices to rise 7.3% over the next year, the highest level since 1981 and up from 6.5% the previous month.

Shortly before the news was released, Moody's, one of the three major international credit rating agencies, downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to Aa1. Moody's expects that by 2035, the US federal debt burden will rise to 134% of GDP, with the deficit reaching 9% of GDP.

Moody's also believes that US GDP growth may slow down due to the impact of tariffs.

Performance of Popular Stocks

Most large-cap tech stocks rose, with (in order of market capitalization) Microsoft up 0.25%, Nvidia up 0.42%, Apple down 0.09%, Amazon up 0.2%, Google Class C up 1.23%, Meta down 0.55%, Tesla up 2.09%, and Broadcom down 1.73%.

CoreWeave surged 22.09%, with its share price up 100.75% since its US IPO in March. UnitedHealth Group rose 6.4%, ending its eight-day losing streak.

Among Chinese ADRs, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 0.52% for the day and 4.56% for the week.

Most popular Chinese ADRs rose, with Zai Lab up 7.58%, TAL Education up 3.54%, NIO up 2.76%, Tencent Music up 1.59%, Li Auto up 0.95%, XPeng Motors up 0.24%, and Baidu up 0.17%.

NetEase fell 2.59%, JD.com fell 2.33%, New Oriental fell 0.43%, Alibaba fell 0.36%, and Pinduoduo fell 0.2%.

Corporate News

[Microsoft Makes New Concessions to "Unbundle" Teams from Office, Aiming to Address EU Antitrust Concerns]

The European Commission announced on May 16 that Microsoft had proposed a series of new commitments aimed at resolving an antitrust investigation into the bundling of Teams with Office products. The European Commission has launched a public consultation on this matter. Microsoft has proposed launching Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams and selling them at a lower price, while allowing users to switch to versions without Teams (including users within existing contractual frameworks). In addition, Microsoft has committed to enhancing the interoperability of Teams competitors with other Microsoft products and allowing users to migrate data out of Teams to use competing products. Microsoft stated that the proposed commitments require it to maintain the availability of the aforementioned suites in the European Economic Area for the next seven years. If the commitments are accepted by the EU, the company will also unify the options and pricing of its office suites and Teams services globally.

[American Airlines Boeing Plane Experiences Hydraulic Failure After Takeoff]

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated on May 16 local time that American Airlines Flight 1884 safely landed at Nashville International Airport around 1:15 PM after the crew reported a hydraulic failure. It is understood that the Boeing 737-800 aircraft took off from Chicago O'Hare International Airport and was originally scheduled to head to Orlando International Airport in Florida. The FAA stated that it would investigate the incident.

[US Cable Giants Charter Communications and Cox Communications to Merge, Valuing the Latter at Nearly $34.5 Billion]

Two major US cable companies, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, announced that they had reached a definitive merger agreement. The proposed transaction values Cox Communications' enterprise value at approximately $34.5 billion. Within one year after the completion of the transaction, the merged company will be renamed Cox Communications. The headquarters of the merged company will be located in Stamford, Connecticut, where Charter Communications is based, while maintaining significant influence at Cox Communications' current headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.