S&P 500 and Dow Jones close their best month of the year boosted by Trump's victory

U.S. stocks posted their biggest monthly gains of 2024 this November, thanks in part to chip stocks rising on Friday and also on momentum from President-elect Donald Trump's election victory.

According to a comprehensive report from the Wall Street Journal, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes rose modestly and closed at records in a shortened session due to the holiday.

Just after the Thanksgiving holiday, when markets did not open, the Dow Jones Industrial rose 6.34 % for the month, to 44,910 points; the S&P 500 rebounded 3.42%, to 6,032 points; and the Nasdaq 2.7%, totaling 19,218 points.

In all, nine of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 closed higher Friday in an across-the-board rally.

Bitcoin resumed its course toward the $100,000 milestone, trading above $97,000.

According to the WSJ, Trump's win earlier this month triggered a market rally, with investors betting that the president-elect's tax cuts and deregulation plan will boost corporate earnings.

Despite harsh criticism from the country's mainstream corporate media of Trump's tariff plan, investors, for the time being, have all but ignored the president-elect's tariff pledge to trading partners.

However, despite the big rally in the markets, it is a fact that auto stocks did take a hit in recent days.

"There is still quite a lot of euphoria around and I think it’s linked to investors thinking the most detrimental effects of Trump’s tariffs might not come to pass," Susannah Streeter, director of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown told the WSJ. "The jury is still out."

The big market rally in the midst of Black Friday and just ahead of December, a historically strong month for stocks.

Analysts suggest that investors expect December to again be a good month to close out a 2024 in which the S&P 500 is already up 26%.