Stocks up again; gains solid as month ends

Wall Street ended a wobbly week with broad gains Friday, closing the books on June with its biggest monthly gain since January.

June marked an aboutface from May, when traders fled to safer holdings because of increased anxiety over the trade war between the U.S. and China and because of signs of slowing global economic growth.

Despite lingering worries over trade, investors pushed stocks higher for much of this month after the Federal Reserve raised expectations that it is prepared to cut interest rates if needed to keep the economy growing. That drove up the benchmark S&P 500 to a record last week, though it has retreated slightly from that mark.

Even after the rollercoaster quarter, investors are in good shape so far this year. The S&P 500 is up 17.3 percent, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq has gained 20.7 percent.

“It hasn’t been maybe as healthy a rally as we saw in the first (quarter),” said Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen. “When you look back 10 years from now, it’s not going to look like the sort of volatile period where we had this good April, terrible May and good June. It’s just going to look like a quarter where you know you made money in stocks, you made money in bonds.”

On Friday, the S&P 500 index rose 16.84 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,941.76. The index ended the month with a 6.9 percent gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 73.38 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 26,599.96. The Nasdaq composite rose 38.49 points, or 0.5 percent, to 8,006.24.

Every major index finished the week with a loss but ended June with solid gains.

The market ended the final week of June with a twoday winning streak. A wave of selling swept over the market earlier in the week as traders shifted money to less risky holdings such as U.S. government bonds while remaining cautiously optimistic about this weekend’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first time the two meet since the trade war escalated after 11 rounds of negotiations.

“Investors need to recognize that the trade situation is unlikely to improve,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco.

Banks led the way higher Friday after the Federal Reserve late Thursday approved plans by the country’s 18 biggest banks to return more money to shareholders. The approvals were part of the Fed’s annual checkup of the banking system. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.7 percent. Bank of America climbed 2.8 percent.

Industrial and energy stocks also notched strong gains. Union Pacific rose 1.9 percent, and oil companies including Chevron and Exxon Mobil went up.

Benchmark crude oil fell 96 cents to settle at $58.47 a barrel. Brent crude held steady at $66.55 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline slid 3 cents to $1.92 per gallon. Natural gas fell 1 cent to $2.31 per 1,000 cubic feet.