Stocks end volatile week with broad rally

Stocks closed out a choppy week of trading with a broad rally, though the gains were not enough to keep the S&P 500 from its first weekly loss in the last five.

The benchmark index rose 1.1 percent Friday, clawing back all of its losses from a day earlier. It posted a 0.1 percent loss for the week. The gains were shared broadly by nearly every sector in the index. Technology companies accounted for a big slice of the rally, along with banks, communication stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending. The utilities and consumer staples sectors closed slightly lower. Treasury yields inched higher.

Traders focused on company earnings from big names like Intel, American Express and Honeywell. Shares in Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Huggies diapers and other consumer products, fell by the most since last October after the company reported disappointing results.

Corporate earnings have been mostly positive, but investors are weighing economic growth against threats from the pandemic and worries about changes in tax policy.

“Earnings are very good,” said Chris Gaffney, president of TIAA Bank World Markets. “That’s going to support higher stock prices along with the low interest rate environment we’re seeing.”

The S&P 500 gained 45.19 points to 4,180.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 227.59 points, or 0.7 percent, to 34,043.49. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 198.40 points, or 1.4 percent, to 14,016.81.

Smaller company stocks outgained the broader market. The Russell 2000 index rose 39.24 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,271.86.

Banks made solid gains as bond yields ticked higher, which allows them to charge more lucrative interest on loans. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.56 percent from 1.55 percent late Thursday.

Wall Street has been in rally mode in recent weeks as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, the massive support from the U.S. government and Federal Reserve, and a string of encouraging economic data fuel expectations for a stronger economy and solid corporate profit growth this year.

About a quarter of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results so far this earnings season. Of these, 84 percent have delivered earnings that topped Wall Street’s estimates, according to FactSet. Earnings are also blowing away analysts’ forecasts by a wider margin than average, coming in 23.6 percent above above the estimates, versus the 5-year average of 8.9 percent, according to FactSet.