Wall Street gets help from retailers

Better results from Macy’s and other stores send stocks higher

NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street Thursday as investors cheered a strong set of quarterly results from Macy’s and other retailers.

The S&P 500 rose 2 percent and is on pace for its first weekly gain after seven straight losses, its longest such stretch since 2001.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq gained

2.7 percent. Smaller company stocks also made strong gains, a sign of bullishness on the economy.

Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set interest rates on mortgages, rose to 2.75 percent from 2.74 percent late Wednesday.

Roughly 90 percent of the stocks in the S&P 500 rose, with technology companies, banks and retailers driving much of the rally. While trading has remained choppy this week, the market has mostly pushed higher, unlike the past five weeks, when the S&P 500 had a pullback of 2 percent or more at least one day each week.

“It’s nice to see a couple days in the green, and this might actually end up being the first week when we don’t have a humongous down day,” said Liz Young, head of investment strategy at Sofi. “But I wouldn’t declare premature victory and assume we’re in the clear.”

The S&P 500 rose 79.11 points to 4,057.84. The

Dow added 516.91 points to 32,637.19, and the Nasdaq rose 305.91 points to 11,740.65.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 39.07 points, or 2.2 percent, to 1,838.24.

Retailers led the broader market higher Thursday. Macy’s surged 19.3 percent after it raised its profit forecast for the year following a strong first-quarter financial report. Dollar General vaulted 13.7 percent and Dollar Tree jumped 21.9 percent for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after the discount retailers reported solid earnings.

The retail sector is being closely watched by investors looking for more details on just how much pain inflation is inflicting on companies and consumers. Weak reports from several big companies last week, including Target and Walmart, spooked an already volatile market.

Consumers have been resilient about spending, but the pressure from inflation remains persistent and could be prompting a pullback or shift in spending from more expensive things to necessities.