Dow Has Best Day in More Than a Year

A big rally that began on Wall Street Thursday afternoon continued into Friday and resulted in the best day since late 2020 for the Dow, reports CNBC. The index rose 834 points, or 2.5%, to 34,058; the S&P 500 rose 95 points, or 2.2%, to 4,384; and the Nasdaq rose 221 points, or 1.6%, to 13,694. Investors seemed calmer about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, particularly after headlines emerged about possible talks. (It remains very much unclear whether any talks will take place.) However, volatility remains the key theme, with nobody daring to predict how weekend developments might affect next week's trading.

“I do not think that this highly volatile period is already coming to an end,” Daniel Egger of St. Gotthard Fund Management tells the Wall Street Journal. “Right now we have to focus now on what’s happening in Kyiv, how bloody the coming days will be, and I would say definitely the Russian sanctions still can be stepped up." The AP points out that even if the Ukraine situation were out of the picture, continued nervousness over inflation—and how the Fed might act to tame it—remains a huge factor. Among Friday's big gainers were Johnson & Johnson, 3M, and Etsy. (More stock market stories.)