Stocks rose broadly in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday and added to weekly gains for the major indexes. The Dow rose 424 points, or 1.2%, to 33,761; the S&P 500 rose 72 points, or 1.7%, to 4,280; and the Nasdaq rose 267 points, or 2%, to 13.047. For the benchmark S&P, that marks four straight winning weeks, notes CNBC. Both that index and Nasdaq rose about 3% for the week, and the Dow wasn't far behind. On Friday, small-company stocks in particular made strong gains in a sign that investors are confident about the economy, per the AP. The Russell 2000 rose 1.7%. Technology and communications stocks had some of the biggest gains: Chipmaker Nvidia rose 3.6% and Facebook's parent Meta rose 1.3%.
Trading has been choppy throughout much of the week, but major indexes got a big bump, and made the bulk of their gains, on Wednesday after a report showed that inflation cooled more than expected last month. The Federal Reserve's fight to tame higher prices remains a priority for Wall Street. Investors have been hoping to see some relief from the hottest inflation in four decades and stocks rallied on Wednesday after an encouraging report on consumer prices from the Labor Department. A report on Thursday showed inflation at the wholesale level also slowed more than economists expected last month. On Friday, a survey by the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment is stronger than expected by economists.
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