LIVE MARKETS-Wall Street ends a strong week with a daily decline

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WALL STREET ENDS A STRONG WEEK WITH A DAILY DECLINE

Well, that was a week. The Nasdaq composite .IXIC and the S&P 500 .SPX closed lower on Friday but, in a week with just two daily gains, they still managed to finish very much ahead for the week.

While worries about Nvidia NVDA.O weighed on investors, they also had to assess the latest inflation reading, which kept bets in place for a Federal Reserve rate hike in December.

But not only did the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq snap four-week losing streaks, they also boasted their biggest weekly gains since early August. It should be noted that this week's 2.5% gain follows the benchmark's biggest weekly loss since the week ended April 4, 2005. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added about 2.6% for the week even as it fell 0.9% on the day.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI also marked its strongest weekly gain since early August, with a 2% advance, and snapped a two-week losing streak.

However, despite the loss in standing of the artificial intelligence world's main cheerleader — with Jensen Huang's scandal-infused exit from Nvidia — even the S&P 500 technology sector .SPLRCT managed a solid weekly gain. It added just under 2% in what was also its biggest weekly gain since late September. However, after six weeks of declines and a pandemic-era-style pummeling on November 5, that index has a lot of ground to make up before it can return to its early October records.

Among the S&P 500's major industry groups, six ended Friday's session higher. Consumer staples .SPLRCS was the biggest gainer, adding 1.4%, while technology was the biggest loser, finishing down 1.7%.

Chip stocks were its biggest drags with the PHLX semiconductor index .SOX falling 3.4%. After five straight sessions of gains, Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O fell 8.8%, representing the biggest drag from a single stock. Nvidia finished down 2% on the day and 12.8% for the week in its sixth consecutive weekly loss.

On the flip side, Meta Platforms META.O brought the biggest boost from a single stock with a 2.9% advance, followed by Apple AAPL.O, which added 0.4%. Microsoft MSFT.O managed a tiny 0.2% advance as its systems came back online after a massive outage in email and other services.

Here is your closing snapshot:

(Sinéad Carew)

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