Stocks build on previous day’s gain
Wall Street piled more gains Friday onto its mammoth rally from a day earlier to close out its best week since the summer.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.9% a day after soaring 5.5% for its best day in more than two years. The Dow Jones industrial average added 32 points to its surge of more than 1,200 a day earlier, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.9%.
Markets got a boost after China relaxed some of its anti-COVID measures, which have been hurting the world’s second-largest economy. Hopes for more growth from China helped not only stocks but also oil prices to rise, with U.S. crude rising 2.9% to $88.96 per barrel.
The main reason for this week’s euphoria in markets was a report on Thursday showing inflation in the United States slowed more than expected last month. That raised hopes that the Federal Reserve can be less aggressive about raising interest rates.
Inflation expectations are currently high relative to history, but a preliminary report on Friday suggested they’re not moving very much.
The median expectation for inflation in the coming year among households rose to 5.1% from 5% a month earlier, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.
Expectations for longrun inflation, meanwhile, ticked up to 3%. But that’s still within the same 2.9%to-3.1% range where they’ve been for 15 of the last 16 months.
Bond markets were closed for trading in observance of Veterans Day.
The S&P 500 rose 36.56 points to 3,992.93, and its 5.9% gain for the week was its third in the last four and its biggest since June.
The Dow rose 32.49 points, or 0.1%, to 33,747.86, and the Nasdaq climbed 209.18 points, or 1.9%, to 11,323.33. Both also notched hefty gains for the week.
In the crypto market, prices sank again amid the industry’s latest crisis of confidence.
One of the bigger trading platforms, FTX, filed for bankruptcy protection after its users began scrambling to pull out their money on fears about its financial strength and after a bigger rival nixed a deal to buy the troubled company.