Recasts with preliminary close of trading
Alphabet jumps
Lilly becomes first drugmaker to join trillion-dollar club
Report: US considering letting Nvidia sell H200 chips to China
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Friday as traders boosted bets on an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month, while all three of the major indexes posted losses for the week amid concerns over lofty technology valuations.
Shares of Nvidia briefly jumped in afternoon trading after the Trump administration is considering green-lighting sales of the company's H200 artificial intelligence chips to China.
New York Fed President , a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said the central bank can still cut rates "in the near term" without putting its inflation goal at risk.
Traders now see a roughly 70% chance that the Fed will cut its main lending rate by 25 basis points in December, up from a near 37% chance seen earlier in the day, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
"The big tailwind today is that shift in rate cut odds for the December Fed meeting," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 64.89 points, or 0.99%, to end at 6,603.65 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 192.83 points, or 0.87%, to 22,273.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 505.03 points, or 1.08%, to 46,257.29.
Stocks have been volatile in the past two sessions, reflecting heightened investor anxiety over sky-high valuations in the technology sector and over what may happen at the December Fed meeting.
said on CNBC that policy was "in the right place," indicating skepticism about the need for another rate cut. Her stance from some peers, a divergence that could stoke market volatility ahead of the December meeting.
Global remained divided over the likelihood of a December rate cut after Thursday's release of the long-delayed , which marks the last employment reading before the Fed's verdict next month.
shares ended higher after the company became the first drugmaker to touch a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Alphabet shares closed sharply higher as well on Friday.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York; Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)
((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com [caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com]))
