US stocks ended higher on Friday after heavy losses in the previous session.
A mood of optimism prevailed in markets on Friday, after data showing improved consumer expectations for inflation emerged, pushing the Nasdaq index to a fifth straight week of gains and eventually hitting an unprecedented high..
The Commerce Department said new orders for U.S.-made capital goods rose more than expected in April, while the University of Michigan reported that consumer expectations for inflation improved at the end of May after worsening earlier in the month..
The session saw light trading, ending a week of volatile trading dominated by US interest expectations and business results from technology giant Nvidia, which reported a more than 260 percent jump in its profit for the first quarter of the year. Last year period.
At the end of the session, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.01 percent at 39,069.59, the S&P 500 was up 0.7 percent at 5,304.72, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1 percent at 76,920..
Despite Friday’s gains, the Dow Jones ended a five-week streak of weekly gains after a sharp decline in the previous session, posting its biggest daily decline in more than a year..
For the week, the Dow Jones fell about 2.34 percent, while the S&P gained 0.03 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.41 percent..
Interest rates
Minutes of the Federal Reserve – America’s central bank – meeting released last Wednesday showed policymakers’ concerns about the continued pace of inflation in the United States.
Details of the minutes indicated that the council was prepared to raise interest rates if necessary.
For his part, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said Wednesday during an event hosted by Boston College that the Federal Reserve will not start cutting interest rates this year.
After the details of the meeting were revealed, markets braced for the possibility that US interest rates would remain at their current high rates for a longer period of time.
Markets now expect just one rate cut in 2024, after starting the year with more optimistic expectations of up to six more cuts.
