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Hey listeners, it's Saturday, January 18th. I'm Francesca Fontana for the Wall Street Journal,

and this is What's News and Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news

that drove them. Let's get to it. Welcome back, everybody, and apologies in advance for any

hoarseness on my part. I'm getting over being under the weather, thanks to the frigid temperatures we've

been having here in New York. And yes, I had a cold, but stocks were red hot this week, mostly.

On Wednesday, the Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all had their best trading day since the big

post-election rally back in November, thanks to new inflation data that's been stoking

optimism for rate cuts and big banks setting a strong tone for earning season. More on that

in the second. But in came the cold on Thursday. All three indexes ended lower, weighed down by

declines in tech stocks. But on Friday, stocks warmed right back up and the major indexes

notched their best week since that post-election rally. On a weekly basis, the Dow gained 3.7%,

the S&P 500 added 2.9%, and the NASDAQ rose 2.5%. Let's circle back to those big banks, which posted surging quarterly profits on Wednesday

thanks to a rebound on Wall Street.

J.P. Morgan Chase said its net income rose 50%, while Goldman Sachs said its net income more than doubled, and Citigroup swung to a profit.

We got similar readings from other big players this week, too, like Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America.

Why the totally gangbusters numbers? Because, for one, banks are seeing this optimism from their

...