U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday as markets continued to make a comeback and significantly recovered almost all the losses after Monday’s bloodbath. All three major indexes ended in positive territory and fell slightly shy of paring their weekly losses.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.1% or 51.05 points, to close at 39,497.54 points.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.5% or 24.85 points, to finish at 5,344.16 points. Communication services, technology and real estate were the biggest gainers.
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) rose 0.9%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) each gained 0.5%. Ten of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.5% or 85.28 points to end at 16,745.30 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 14.38% to 20.37. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.39-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.14-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. A total of 11.13 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 12.59 billion.
Markets Continue to Recover from Earlier Setback
Wall Street continued their comeback efforts on Friday after Monday’s violent rout. The positivity among investors that started on Thursday following a better-than-expected jobless report continued into Friday.
All three major indexes have almost recovered from Monday’s losses in one of the most eventful weeks this year. The Dow shed more than 1,000 points on Monday, while the S&P 500 ended 3% lower, to record its worst day since 2022 after disappointing payrolls data ignited fears that the economy could slip into a recession.
Market participants started believing that the Federal Reserve may have delayed its planned rate cuts for too long, which has now started taking its toll on the economy.
However, the fears were alleviated on Thursday following better-than-expected jobless data with Wall Street staging a solid rebound. The S&P 500 jumped 2.3% on Thursday to record its best day since November 2022.
On Friday, all three major indexes advanced further, with the S&P 500 briefly turning positive for the week before giving up some of its gains.
Tech stocks which suffered the most on Monday, drove the rally on Friday. Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose 1.4%, while Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) rose 0.9%. Apple carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Investors will be keenly watching some major economic data, including the key inflation numbers, to be released this week. No major economic data was released on Friday.
Weekly Roundup
All three major indexes nearly pared the weekly losses. The Dow ended 0.6% lower. The S&P 500 was down 0.5% for the week, while the Nasdaq was down 0.2% for the week.
Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor Stock
It's only 1/9,000th the size of NVIDIA which skyrocketed more than +800% since we recommended it. NVIDIA is still strong, but our new top chip stock has much more room to boom.
With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $803 billion by 2028.
See This Stock Now for Free >>Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
