With the market near records, many stocks have surged as well.
Topline: Wall Street cheered the release of November’s blockbuster jobs report on Friday, helping the market recover its trade-war-related losses from earlier in the week and putting a number of major stocks at new all-time highs.
Here are the major companies hitting new records:
- Technology giant Apple hit a new record stock price on Friday, currently near $270 per share, after Citigroup boosted the company’s upside price target by 20% yesterday, predicting blockbuster holiday sales for products like Airpods and the Apple Watch.
- Another of the big four tech companies, Google, also reached a new all-time high, trading near $1,342 per share. The company’s stock went higher after cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down from their leadership roles earlier this week, giving Google CEO Sundar Pichai the top job at parent company Alphabet.
- Big financial services companies hit new record prices too, boosted by Wall Street’s big rally on Friday: JPMorgan Chase shares passed the $135 mark, just a few months after a third-quarter earnings report that saw record revenue, while U.S. Bancorp, one of Warren Buffett’s biggest holdings, traded above $60 per share.
- Upscale furniture chain Restoration Hardware, which recently got a $206 million investment from Warren Buffett, achieved new highs of around $242 per share, following a successful third-quarter earnings beat that exceeded Wall Street expectations.
- Shares of yoga pants maker Lululemon Athletica, which has led the popular athleisure apparel trend in recent years, hit a new record high of more than $232 per share on Friday. Lululemon’s stock continued a surging run this year (up more than 85% so far in 2019), as the retailer looks to expand into areas like menswear, e-commerce and international sales.
- Nike, the world’s most dominant athletic footwear and apparel brand, also hit an all-time high price on Friday. The stock traded above $97 per share, thanks to a recent price target upgrade from Goldman Sachs analysts, who see a 20% upside as the retailer continues to be wildly popular with consumers and expands into growing markets like China.
Key background: Despite ongoing trade uncertainty, the stock market ended the first week of December back near record highs. Solid economic data, namely a blockbuster November jobs report that far exceeded analyst expectations, drove the big Wall Street rally on Friday. Recession fears have cooled recently, as economic indicators like consumer spending and holiday sales remain solid as well.
Crucial quote: “A killer jobs report put to rest concerns that the U.S. economy was starting to show signs of slowing down,” says Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.
What to watch for: Trade news—it’s anyone’s guess at this point, with the crucial December 15 deadline for additional U.S. tariffs on $156 billion worth of Chinese goods fast approaching. If Trump imposes tariffs, which China has asked to be canceled as part of a phase one trade deal, that could heat up tensions and threaten the stock market’s year-end run.
The Trump administration has spent months going back and forth with China on trade negotiations, with tensions constantly escalating and de-escalating. With both sides yet to sign a phase one trade deal, Trump’s recent approval of U.S. legislation on Hong Kong further “stalled” trade progress, according to Axios. That could make it more likely that Trump will hold off on planned December tariffs to keep the deal alive.