Dow surges 348 points, closes week in positive territory
The Dow posted strong gains Friday to end the week in positive territory, as stocks rallied for a second straight day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 347.51 points, or 1.39%, to 25,309. The S&P 500 rose 43.34 points, or 1.6%, to 2,747.30. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 127.31 points, or 1.77%, to 7,337.39 in a strong day for tech stocks.
Investors bid up stocks to wrap up the week, with concerns over higher interest rates moving to the back burner. The Federal Reserve’s semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress, released Friday, indicated that the federal funds rate will likely remain low for some time. Earlier this week, the central bank’s minutes from its January policy meeting showed that officials don’t expect wage growth to accelerate faster than expected—a trend that would encourage the Fed to raise rates.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who replaced Janet Yellen at the helm of the central bank earlier this month, will testify before a House panel Tuesday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which hit a fresh four-year high of 2.957% this week, pulled back to around 2.873% Friday afternoon.
West Texas Intermediate oil prices rallied 1.24% to $63.55 a barrel. Baker Hughes said the number of active U.S. rigs increased by three over the last week.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares jumped more than 10% after beating estimates for quarterly earnings. Nordstrom’s founding family is preparing an offer to take the upscale retailer private, sending shares up 6.5%.