NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Stock Exchange posted even more gains on Friday, closing out its best week in nearly a year.
The S&P 500 index rose 40.56 points, or 0.9%, to 4,358.34 at the end of a week in which it posted daily gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 222.24 points, or 0.7%, to 34,061.32, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 184.09 points, or 1.4%, to close at 13,478.28.
Stocks rose during the week on growing hopes that the Federal Reserve has finally ended its interest rate hikes, which it tries to control inflation. A report released Friday underscored that pressure on inflation is easing, after showing that employers hired fewer workers last month than economists expected.
It’s a stunning turnaround from just a week ago, when Wall Street was reeling after the S&P 500 fell 10% below its year-high. That caused the main index of the New York stock market to register what investors call a “correction.”
Since then, strong earnings reports have helped some stocks rise sharply. Generac, a maker of backup generators, soared nearly 28% to have its best week since going public in 2010. At Expedia Group, another better-than-expected report sent its shares up nearly 22%, its best week since the market recovered from the coronavirus crash it suffered in 2020.
But it was interest rates, yields and inflation that were at the center of all the turbulent movements in financial markets around the world.
Before this week, stocks had been struggling under the weight of rapidly rising Treasury yields. In turn, those yields were reaching the Federal Reserve’s main interest rate, which is above 5.25% and at its highest level since 2001.
Higher rates and yields slow the economy, hurt investment prices, and increase the risk of something going wrong within the financial system, such as the three high-profile U.S. bank failures that shook financial markets. during spring.
“There really was fear that the Fed was going too far,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 4.52% from 4.67% on Thursday, and from more than 5% last week, when it reached its highest level since 2007.
Associated Press writers Damian J. Troise, Zimo Zhong and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
2023-11-03 22:20:03
#Wall #Street #closes #gains #registers #week #year
