Nasdaq surges more than 1% to take out 2021 record, S&P 500 closes above 5100 for the first time: Live updates

U.S. stocks finished Friday's trading session higher, with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 closing at fresh record highs.

The Nasdaq rose 1.14%, finishing at 16,274.94. The S&P 500 added 0.80% at 5,137.08. The Dow Jones Industrial average added around 91 points, or 0.23%, to 39,087.38.

— Hakyung Kim

The technology sector rose around 2.4% this week as the S&P 500's top-performing sector. NetApp surged 20.2% to lead the sector's gains.

Consumer discretionary was the following best sector, rising 2.1%.

Meanwhile, health care, which fell 1.1%, was the biggest underperformer week to date.

— Hakyung Kim

With all three major stock indexes notching their fourth straight month of gains, it's fair to ask if the equity rally has run too hot, too fast.

But all things considered, the bubble hasn't grown to enormous proportions, Citi said.

"The current equity bubble is not (yet) overly large in terms of price appreciation, duration, valuation, or sentiment. Some are disputing whether it is a bubble in the first place given the expectations of strong earnings growth," said Citi's Dirk Willer. "We therefore think the market likely has further room to run."

He added that he remains bullish on U.S. equities, particularly technology stocks.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The Nasdaq Composite is headed for another winning week, led to the upside by semiconductor stocks.

Marvell Technology and Advanced Micro Devices are among the best performers in the concentrated Nasdaq-100 index and up more than 14% week to date. Micron Technology, NXP Semiconductors, Broadcom and On Semiconductor have all added at least 7%.

Constellation Energy is the best performer in the index. The stock's surged about 25% this week and is on pace for its best weekly performance on record.

— Samantha Subin

The blue-chip Dow lagged the other major averages this week, hurt by notable slides in UnitedHealth and a handful of other members.

The 30-stock index is on pace to close the week 0.1% down. By comparison, the broad S&P 500 added 1%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.8%.

UnitedHealth led the Dow lower, tumbling more than 7% as one of its businesses, Change Healthcare, faced a cyberattack. The stock is poised to see its worst week since early 2023.

Amgen and Nike were the next biggest losers, with both stocks down more than 2.5% on the week.

Those drops mitigated sizable gains seen elsewhere. Salesforce soared more than 8% in the week, leading the index after posting better-than-expected earnings. Disney, Caterpillar and Home Depot posted the next biggest advances, with each of the three stocks up more than 3%.

— Alex Harring

Prices at the pump have risen 18 cents over the past month as crude oil has become more expensive.

A gallon of regular gas cost $3.33 on average across the U.S. on Friday, compared to an average of $3.15 one month ago, according to the motorist association AAA.

Gasoline is becoming more expensive for consumers as crude oil futures have booked two months of consecutive gains.

The price of gas is still $1.68 bellow the national record of $5.016 set in June 2022.

— Spencer Kimball

heck out some of the the companies making headlines in midday trading.

• Spirit AeroSystems -- Shares climbed more than 12% following a report that Boeing was in talks with Spirit to reacquire the fuselage supplier nearly 20 years after spinning it off into a separate company.

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise -- The technology stock rose almost 2% after fiscal first quarter earnings of 3 cents per share topped analysts' expectations, according to LSEG. But Hewlett Packard posted $6.76 billion in revenue, under the Wall Street forecast of $7.11 billion, and gave weak guidance for the current quarter.

• Daimler Truck -- Shares of the commercial vehicle manufacturer soared more than 18% after reporting a record-high, full-year profit, and authorized a 2 billion euro ($2.16 billion) share buyback.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Boeing is in talks to buy back supplier Spirit Aerosystems, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Spirit makes fuselages for Boeing's 737 Max jet and was spun off from Boeing's operations in Kansas and Oklahoma in 2005.

Both Spirit and Boeing have been under scrutiny since flaws emerged on the Boeing 737 Max. The latest incident occurred in early January, when a section of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight.

News of the talks sent shares of Spirit Aerosystems more than 13% higher in midday trading, while Boeing's stock slipped about 1%.

— Leslie Josephs, Laya Neelakandan and Michelle Fox

UBS said investors still need to have a core allocation to U.S. large-cap stocks despite their recent run. But the firm advised traders to also include small caps, quality bonds and international equities in their portfolio.

That advice comes as traders appear concerned about narrow leadership among U.S. stocks, with UBS finding the 10 biggest S&P 500 companies now account for around 32% of the index's market cap. But a firm study found the U.S. market was one of the most diverse.

"While the dominance of the US market among global equities is underpinned by the industrial transformation, it is also a function of underperformance elsewhere," Solita Marcelli, one of the bank's investing chiefs, wrote in a note to clients. "In fact, over the long run, investors have underperformed by investing in markets with high past GDP growth, compared to lower-growth markets."

— Alex Harring

U.S. crude oil futures topped $80 a barrel for the first time in nearly four months, as signs point to a tightening market ahead of an OPEC+ decision on production cuts.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for April gained more than 2%, or $1.78, to $80.04 a barrel, while May Brent futures added 2.15%, or $1.76, to $83.67 a barrel.

U.S. crude and the global benchmark booked a second consecutive monthly gain in February as near-month contracts traded at a premium to later months, typically a sign of a tightening oil market.

OPEC+ is considering rolling over its production cuts through the second quarter and possibly the end of the year, three sources in the organization told Reuters this week. The cartel and its allies are expected to make a decision on the reductions in the first week of March, sources told Reuters.

— Spencer Kimball

The market has managed to rise for the fourth straight month February, rising 5.2%. March, however, could be a different story, according to LPL Financial chief technical strategist Adam Turnquist.

"March has historically been a good month for stocks as the S&P 500 has posted an average return of 1.1%. However, during election years, average March returns dip to only 0.4%, with notable historical weakness midmonth," said Turnquist.

— Hakyung Kim

Surprise: A nuclear utility and luxury clothing maker outperformed the well-known artificial intelligence play last month.

The S&P 500 finished February more than 5% higher, marking its fourth straight winning month. Within the broad index, some stocks ran circles around that. Those names include some mega-cap technology companies, as well as others that are lesser known.

Nuclear provider Constellation Energy led the benchmark index higher with a whopping jump of 38.1% in the month. Clothing maker Ralph Lauren followed with a rally of 29.4%.

After those two, names traders may have expected came next. Chipmaker Nvidia climbed 28.6% in 2024's second month, while Facebook parent Meta Platforms added 25.6%.

Specialty workforce contractor Quanta Services rounded out the top five, posting a 24.5% advance.

— Alex Harring

Goldman still thinks Apple shares are a buy, but it's lost a bit of its shine as the firm removes it from its Conviction List. The move comes as Goldman shakes up its list of top investment ideas, adding Amgen, Monday.com and Vulcan Materials. Buy-rated Merck and Vertex also join Apple in being removed.

Goldman analyst Mike Ng said investors continue to focus on slower product revenue growth at Apple, but he still sees factors like the growth of services, its vast installed base and product innovation as a source of strength. That's why Apple remains a buy, and Ng bumps up its price target to $232 from $223. On Friday, Apple shares were down about 1.4% at $178.10, which suggests 30% upside ahead.

Still, Apple shares have lagged other megacap tech stocks this year and are actually down about 7.5% year to date.

Amgen shares have also lagged the market, down 2.4% since 2024 began. However, the stock joins the Goldman's list as analyst Salveen Richter touts the biotech's strong pipeline, which includes an experimental treatments for obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atopic dermatitis, among others.

The company will be sharing key data from clinical trials this year, which could push the value of Amgen stock higher, according to Goldman. Richter sees about 28% upside ahead based on his price target. The stock also has a 3.2% dividend yield.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller thinks the central bank's balance sheet reduction should include the run-off of all mortgage holdings and a significant reduction in duration.

In a speech Friday, Waller addressed the manner in which the Fed will reduce its bond holdings, a process likely to be discussed in detail at the March meeting and commenced shortly thereafter. The Fed's $7.6 trillion balance sheet includes some $4.7 trillion in Treasurys and $2.4 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, the latter of which Waller would like to reduce to zero.

On the Treasury holdings, Waller suggested a shift toward greater holding of short-term bills and away from notes and bonds. Doing so would allow the holdings to more closely follow the Fed's overnight borrowing rate and cause less disruption to the balance sheet when they are rolled off.

—Jeff Cox

U.S. manufacturing activity pulled back more than expected in February on a decline in new orders, production and employment readings, the Institute for Supply Management reported Friday.

The ISM manufacturing index slipped to 47.8 for the month, down 1.3 points from January and below the 49.5 estimate from Dow Jones. As the index measures the percentage level of business reporting expansion, anything below 50 represents contraction for the sector, though readings above 42.5 are consistent with broader economic growth.

Among the sub-indexes, new orders dropped 3.3 points, production fell 2 points and employment was off by 1.2 points and slipped further into contraction territory at 45.9. On the upside, new export orders jumped 6.4 points and customers' inventories increased 2.1 points. The prices index edged lower to 52.5.

Much of the commentary in the survey focused on typical early-year slowdowns, with multiple sectors expecting gains through the year.

—Jeff Cox

The final reading on February consumer sentiment came in slightly below expectations as inflation expectations inched up.

The University of Michigan's sentiment index came in at 76.9, below a Dow Jones estimate of 79.6. It's also below the January reading of 79.

"Consumer sentiment moved sideways this month, slipping just two index points below January and holding the gains in sentiment seen over the past three months," Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said.

"Year-ahead inflation inched up from 2.9 in January to 3.0% in February. For the second straight month, short-run inflation expectations have fallen within the 2.3-3.0% range seen in 2018 and 2019," Hsu said.

— Fred Imbert

How the Federal Reserve will proceed with interest rates will be "top of mind" for investors in the coming weeks ahead of the March meeting, according to Barclays.

Stocks are off to a strong start this year. All three of the major averages have notched record highs as markets shrugged off concerns of uneven inflation and the interest rate outlook. But the macro picture will come further into focus this month as investors move past the fourth-quarter earnings season to digest some major labor and inflation reports.

"The forward path for rates clearly remains top of mind with February employment and inflation data appearing as the next macro overhangs for equities," Venu Krishna wrote in a Friday note.

"March FOMC is the most closely watched catalyst of all; while overly dovish expectations were reset by Fed messaging over the last several weeks, equities will be attuned to any recalibration in central bank rhetoric," Krishna added.

— Sarah Min

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite inched higher to start Friday's trading session.

The broad market index added 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.8%.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 12 points, or 0.05%.

— Hakyung Kim

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said on "Squawk Box" that he was not going to extrapolate too much from a hot January inflation reading because the first month of the year tends to produce unreliable data.

"I've tried to discipline myself not to look at January too closely," Barkin said.

The FOMC voting member said that inflation appears to be uneven across different sectors in the economy, with declines in areas like used cars helping to offset price increases elsewhere. Barkin did say that companies are probably running out of room to hike prices after many did so aggressively in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

"I definitely think we're on the back end of that journey," Barkin said.

When asked whether he wanted to cut rates soon, Barkin said he'd rely on the economic data to make the decisions about what to do about the Fed's benchmark rate.

"I'm never in a hurry to make any decision. We'll get to the meeting. We'll see what we learn," Barkin said.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were on track to end the week higher with just one trading day left.

The broad S&P 500 has added about 0.2% this week. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed with a 0.6% gain.

On the other hand, the Dow diverged. The blue-chip average was on pace to end the week around 0.4% lower.

— Alex Harring

Shares of New York Community Bank lost nearly 30% after the bank disclosed issues with its internal controls and announced a change in leadership.

"As part of management's assessment of the Company's internal controls, management identified material weaknesses in the Company's internal controls related to internal loan review, resulting from ineffective oversight, risk assessment and monitoring activities," NYCB said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

NYCB also said Executive Chairman Alessandro DiNello will take over as president and CEO, effective immediately.

— Fred Imbert

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.4% in early trade, with tech stocks adding 1.1% to lead gains as all sectors and major bourses advanced.

Germany's DAX was the strongest regional performer with a 0.7% climb.

South Korean exports in February rose 4.8% from a year earlier to $52.41 billion, beating Reuters' estimates of a 1.9% increase, on strong demand for its semiconductors, preliminary government data showed.

The export print compares to a 18% growth in January. Overall, imports fell by 13.1%, steeper than estimates of a 10.4% drop.

"The ICT cycle (Information and Communications Technology cycle) is on an upturn," said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at Natixis. "With the manufacturing cycle returning to to growth in the U.S., that should support South Korea," she added.

—Lee Ying Shan

Japan's February factory activity shrank at the fastest pace in more than three years on the back of weakening demand.

The au Jibun Bank's flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to to 47.2 in February, compared with January's 48.0 reading, indicating continued contraction in private sector business activity.

The reading signals a ninth consecutive deterioration in business activity and the strongest contraction recorded since August 2020, according to au Jibun Bank.

Japan's benchmark index has continued to extend its rally after surging to an all-time high last week. The Nikkei 225 was trading 1.83% higher at 39,883.86 in Friday morning trading.

—Lee Ying Shan

China's manufacturing activity contracted for a fifth straight month in February, official figures on Friday showed, which were at odds with a private survey that signaled factory activity expanded.

Data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed manufacturing PMI fell to 49.1 in February from 49.2 in January. The reading was in line with a Reuters poll estimate.

The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI, however, edged up to 50.9 in February from 50.8 in the previous month.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while below that denotes a contraction.

"Companies noted further upturns in both production and new work, with rates of growth quickening slightly from January, helped in part by a rise in new export orders," the private Caixin survey read.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

India's economy grew much faster than expected in the October to December quarter, and at its fastest pace in six quarters.

Data showed GDP grew 8.4% in the third fiscal quarter, blowing past Reuters Poll expectations of 6.6% growth, on the back of higher private consumption and strong manufacturing and construction activity.

The October-December quarter reading was also higher than the 7.6% growth clocked in the prior three months.

The Indian government raised its GDP growth outlook for fiscal year 2023-24 to 7.6% from 7.3% forecast earlier.

The data also boosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic record ahead of a highly anticipated national election.

"For PM Modi and BJP who will be going to the polls in April-May, it will yet provide another boost. For RBI (Reserve Bank of India), the strong growth momentum will only reinforce their bias to stay on hold at 6.5% for the foreseeable future," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio believes the U.S. stock market is not in a speculative bubble.

The founder of Bridgewater, one of the world's largest hedge funds, analyzed the market based on his bubble criteria, which includes valuation, sentiment, new buyers and unsustainable conditions.

"When I look at the U.S. stock market using these criteria, it — and even some of the parts that have rallied the most and gotten media attention — doesn't look very bubbly," he said in a new LinkedIn post published Thursday.

— Yun Li

Shares of Dell Technologies jumped more than 18% in extended trading after the tech company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Dell also showed strong demand for its artificial intelligence servers.

Chief Financial Officer Yvonne McGill said the company is increasing its annual dividend by 20% to $1.78 per share, which she called a "testament to our confidence in the business."

— Yun Li