Wall Street steady after Yellen signals rate hike this month

THE S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed out their sixth straight week of gains with a flat session after Janet Yellen signaled the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates this month if employment and other economic data hold up.

THE S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed out their sixth straight week of gains with a flat session after Janet Yellen signaled the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates this month if employment and other economic data hold up.

Strategists said the Fed Chair’s comments likely cement a rate hike at the Fed’s March 14-15 meeting.

Financial stocks, which benefit from higher rates, closed up 0.40% on Friday after Ms. Yellen’s comments and were among the best- performing S& P 500 sectors, while real estate was the worst performer, down 0.40%.

Ms. Yellen, in prepared remarks to a business lunch in Chicago, also said rates are likely to rise faster this year, as the economy appears clear of any imminent hurdles at home or abroad for the first time in her tenure.

“Equities can handle hikes when it’s in the face of stronger growth,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

He said this week’s February payrolls report is unlikely to derail rate hike expectations. The Labor department is scheduled to release its February non-farm payrolls report on March 10.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2.74 points, or 0.01%, to 21,005.71, the S& P 500 gained 1.20 points, or 0.05%, to 2,383.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.53 points, or 0.16%, to 5,870.75.

For the week, the Dow was up 0.90%, the S&P 500 was up 0.70% and the Nasdaq was up 0.40%.

Investors expected Ms. Yellen to signal a rate hike after a large number of Fed off icials, including those typically dovish on rates, appeared this week to stoke expectations of a rate increase.

Traders now have priced in about an 85% chance of a hike during the March 14-15 policysetting meeting, according to Thomson Reuters data. Those chances stood at roughly 30% at the start of the week.

Snap, Inc., which rallied Thursday in its debut, jumped another 10.70% after NBCUniversal invested $ 500 million in the parent of Snapchat.

About 6.7 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the 6.9 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S& P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 43 new lows. —