U.S. Stocks Rally, Post Biggest Weekly Gain Since 2020

Stocks recovered from an early slide on Wall Street and closed broadly higher Friday, notching their biggest weekly gain in 16 months, Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Wall Street closed the week with its biggest weekly gain in 16 months.

The S&P 500 rose for the fourth straight day, adding 1.2% to a streak that included back-to-back days with gains of 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 2%. The three indices each had their best week since November 2020.

Stocks also got a boost as the price of US crude oil, which briefly topped $130 a barrel last week amid concerns that the conflict in Ukraine will squeeze energy markets, eased briefly below $94 a barrel on Wednesday and has since been hovering below $110 a barrel.

The S&P 500 rose 51.45 points to 4,463.12, bringing its weekly gain to 6.2%. The Dow gained 274.l7 points to 34,754.93, and the Nasdaq added 279.06 points to 13,893.84. Smaller company stocks also gained ground. The Russell 2000 index rose 21.12 points, or 1%, to 2,086.14.

Friday’s gains were broad. Technology and communication stocks, retailers, automakers, and other companies that rely on consumer spending helped lift the market. Chipmaker Nvidia climbed 6.8%, Facebook parent Meta rose 4.2% and Tesla rose 3.9%.

Only utilities stocks fell. Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 2.14% from 2.19% late Thursday. Several stocks made big moves after releasing their latest financial results and updates. FedEx fell 4% after its fiscal third-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street forecasts. US Steel slid 4.6% after giving investors a disappointing profit forecast.

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