NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street rallied on Friday to close sharply, closing a tumultuous week on declining concerns about whether the U.S. Federal Reserve could begin tightening its monetary policy sooner than expected.
While the top three U.S. indices ended in green, they all posted weekly losses after a strong mid-week sell-off, which pushed the S&P 500 and the Dow away from a series of closing highs. record.
“Towards the beginning of the week, you saw traders balancing their books before the Fed statement,” said Matthew Keator, managing partner of the Keator Group, a wealth management company in Lenox, Massachusetts. “And once the statement came out, he saw a bit of ‘sell the rumor buy the news.'”
Market-leading technology megacaps and technology-adjacent megacaps, which overcame the pandemic recession better than most, once again provided the biggest boost.
US Treasury yields also boosted growth stocks, which ended the week lower due to concerns that the health crisis could pose a longer-than-expected hurdle for economic recovery.
Announcements from a large number of Asian nations implementing drastic measures to curb the resurgence of COVID-19 due to the rise of the highly contagious delta variant of the disease, put a brake on populations associated with re-engagement economic.
Mixed economic data from the US and China suggested that the continued recovery from the sharpest recession on record has peaked and lost some momentum.
Market participants are now considering a meeting of top central bank leaders at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming next week to get clues from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on the expected pace of recovery and the timing for tightening. the policies.
“We’ve seen moments in history where the Jackson Hole symposium has attracted a lot of eyeballs, but this year more,” Keator added. “The Fed could take this opportunity to communicate the future of its plan.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 225.96 points, or 0.65%, to 35,120.08, the S&P 500 gained 35.87 points, or 0.81%, to 4,441.67, and the Nasdaq Composite add 172.88 points, or 1.19%, to 14,714.66.
The top 11 sectors of the S&P 500 ended the session higher, with technology stocks and utilities earning the highest percentage of gains.
The second quarter reporting season continued essentially, with 476 of the S&P 500 companies posting results. Of these, 87.4% have exceeded the consensus, according to data from Refinitiv.
Agricultural and construction machinery manufacturer Deere & Co. exceeded quarterly profit expectations and increased its year-round orientation due to strong demand. However, its shares ended the session 2.1%.
Bristol-Myers Squibb advanced 1% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Opdivo against cancer.
Shares in the U.S. of China-based technology-related companies rocked market participants as they digested recent sales as a result of Beijing’s ongoing regulatory crackdown, which this week has wiped out half a trillion dollars from Chinese markets.
Alibaba Holding Group closed up 1.6%, while Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Didi Global and iQiyi Inc gained between 1.6% and 3.7%.
Advanced issues outperformed the low on the NYSE by a ratio of 2.37 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 2.21 to 1 favored the forwards.
The S&P 500 recorded 50 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 200 new lows.
The volume of US stock markets was 8.72 million shares, compared to the average of 9.21 million in the last 20 trading days.
Reports by Stephen Culp; Additional reports from Devik Jain and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Edited by Aurora Ellis