Tech rally helps snap skid as rough week ends

NEW YORK — Stocks rebounded Friday, clawing back some of the week’s steep losses, but the turbulent trading of the last few days left no doubt that the relative calm the markets enjoyed all summer had been shattered.

Major U.S. indexes ended the week down about 4 percent, their worst weekly loss in six months. An index measuring the performance of small-company stocks had its worst week since early 2016.

Big technology and consumer-focused companies led the recovery Friday. Longtime favorites of many investors, they had plunged in the last few days.

A major factor cited by market watchers for the pullback was a sharp increase in interest rates, which can slow the economy and make bonds more attractive to investors relative to stocks.

Apple climbed 3.6 percent to $222.11 and Microsoft gained 3.5 percent to $109.57. Amazon jumped 4 percent to $1,788.41. Those are the three most valuable companies in the U.S., and they suffered startling declines the last few days: on Wednesday each took its biggest loss in more than two years. That made for a dramatic end to three months of calm on the U.S. market.

The S&P 500 index rose 38.76 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,767.13 to end a six-day losing streak. The benchmark index tumbled 4.1 percent this week, and it’s down 5.6 percent since from its latest record high, set Sept. 20. Thanks in part to the big gain for technology companies, the Nasdaq composite jumped 167.83 points, or 2.3 percent, to 7,496.89.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as much as 414 points early on, then gave it all up and turned slightly lower. It rebounded and finished with a gain of 287.16 points, or 1.1 percent, at 25,339.99.

The dollar slipped to 112.01 yen from 111.94 yen. The euro fell to $1.1563 from $1.1594.