US Shares Close Wild Week Higher

Wall Street surged on Friday to close higher after a week’s wild market rotations. The surging US equities received a push from relief signs denoting that peaking inflation vied with concerns that policy tightening by the Fed could slope the US economy into unwanted recession.

Equity gains were led by a rebound in Megacap tech and tech-adjacent stocks, which sold off in previous week’s sessions as benchmark Treasury yields climbed and investors had concerns about the Fed that might hike interest rates more aggressively than expected.

Despite Friday’s gains, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their sixth consecutive weekly loss, the longest consecutive losses since fall 2012 for the S&P 500 and since spring 2011 for the Nasdaq. The Dow Jones notched its seventh consecutive weekly dip, the blue chip average’s; longest losing since 1980.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 466.36 points, or 1.47%, to 32,196.66, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 93.81 points, or 2.39%, to 4,023.89 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 434.04 points, or 3.82%, to 11,805.00.

Shares of Twitter Inc dropped 9.7% following Elon Musk’s tweet that he had put the $44 billion cash buyout deal on hold, as he waits for the social media company to provide data on fake accounts.

In the past six trading days, the Labour Department released four economic reports; CPI, PPI import prices and wage growth. The four ta reports together suggest that US inflation hit its peak during March. The data constitutes welcome news for traders, investors and market participants who worried that the Fed could spark a recession with a spate of inflation-fighting interest rate hikes.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, confirmed on Thursday by the US Senate to a second term, reiterated the central bank’s determination to battle inflation, but said he believes the economy can avoid a serious downturn. Powell is committing to getting this inflation under control, even if he admits it is going to be somewhat painful.