Wall Street added to its recent gains on Friday with a broad rally that broke the three-week streak of market losses.
The S.The &P 500 closed up 1.5%, its third straight rise, and finished the week 3.7% higher. This makes it the best week for the benchmark index going back to July.
Big gains for technology companies pushed the Nasdaq Composite Index to a gain of 2.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%. Both indices also made their first weekly gain in four weeks.
The latest gains punctuated a short week of trading on Wall Street during which the market regained some ground after the mid-August pullback wiped out much of the gains from the midsummer rally.
Samir Samana, senior global market analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said the dollar’s weakness and reversal among short sellers – traders betting the market will drop – appeared to be responsible for some of the rally on Friday.
“You had a little bit of positive stimulus for the dollar going down today, and here’s this extreme situation that has to be sort of cleared up,” he said. “We probably won’t read much into that. For us, however, the trend in (stocks) remains down.”
The S.The P500 rose 61.18 points to 4,067.36. The index is still down about 15% so far this year.
The Dow Jones added 377.19 points to 32,151.71, while the Nasdaq rose 250.18 points to 12,112.31.
Technology stocks and retailers posted some of the biggest gains. Microsoft shares rose 2.3 percent and Amazon 2.7 percent.
DocuSign jumped 10.5% after the electronic signature company reported strong sales in the second quarter and raised subscription expectations.
All 11 industry sectors in the S . standardThe P&P 500 rose, although makers of household and utilities goods, which are usually considered less risky investments, lagged the market. US crude oil prices rose 3.9%, which helped lift energy stocks. Exxon Mobil shares rose 1.7 percent.
Smaller company stocks also posted strong gains. The Russell 2000 Index rose 35.94 points, or 1.9%, to 1,882.85 points.
Bond yields mostly rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects interest rates on mortgages and other loans, fell to 3.31 from 3.33% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to track expectations for actions by the Federal Reserve, rose to 3.57% from 3.51%.
The Fed has been the main focus for investors as they try to see if the central bank’s plan to cool the steepest inflation in four decades will work or perhaps push an already slowing economy into recession.
Stocks spent July and part of August gaining ground in hopes that the Fed would roll back its rate increases, but they have eased over the past few weeks as it has become clear that the central bank has remained resolute in raising rates.
The central bank has raised interest rates four times this year and markets expect it to deliver another huge increase of three-quarters of a percentage point at its next meeting in two weeks. Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, reaffirmed the central bank’s determination to raise interest rates until inflation is under control.
This has left investors closely watching the economic data for any indication that inflation may be easing. The calendar for these updates will be busy next week.
The Labor Department will release its consumer price report for August on Tuesday and its wholesale price report on Wednesday. On Thursday, Wall Street will get an update on retail sales for August.
Copyright © 2022 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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