(Reuters) – The S&P 500 .SPX posted a record high close on Friday for the first time in two years, fueled by a rally in chipmakers and other heavyweight technology stocks on optimism around artificial intelligence.
The benchmark’s close confirmed that the S&P 500 has been in a bull market since it closed at its low on Oct. 12, 2022, according to one measure which also puts that date as the end of a bear market.
In a selloff between its record high close of 4,796.56 on Jan. 3, 2022 and its low in October 2022, the S&P 500 tumbled 25%.
Yesterday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.23% to end the session at 4,839.81 points.
“It really is an encouraging day in terms of the action, and 4,800 certainly has been a key level which has been difficult to surmount. So if we continue to move in this direction, that’s going to be a very positive sentiment sign,” said Lisa Erickson, head of public markets at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
