Wall Street's winning week, month, and first half of the year closed with another rally Friday after reports suggested pressure on inflation may be easing, per the AP.
- The S&P rose 53 points, or 1.2%, to 4,450.
- The Dow rose 285 points, or 0.8%, to 34,407.
- The Nasdaq rose 196 points, or 1.4%, to 13,787.
- The benchmark S&P rose about 6% in June and is up a whopping 16% since the first of the year, per CNBC. It's the best first half of the year since 2019. More remarkably, the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged about 31%, its best half-year start since 1983. The Dow was up far more modestly, about 4%.
The gains came after a report on Friday showed the measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve prefers to use eased in May. The report also said growth in spending by consumers slowed by more than expected. "There's lots of noise around the edges, but tepid consumption growth and a downward trend for inflation means the end is near for rate hikes," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. Easier interest rates help prices for all kinds of investments, from stocks to crypto. But technology and other high-growth stocks tend to be seen as some of the biggest winners, and they were helping to lead the market.
Nvidia rose 3.7%, for example. It's been among a small cadre of stocks that have exploded higher this year amid a frenzy about artificial-intelligence software. It's up nearly 190% for the year so far, and it climbed another 1.8% on Friday. Cruise line operators also helped drive the rally. Carnival led all stocks in the S&P 500 with a 9.8% gain, while Norwegian Cruise Line climbed 4.7%. Travel stocks have been hot recently on expectations for strong demand as vacationers head back out. On the losing end of Wall Street was Nike. It fell 2.5% after reporting weaker profit for the latest quarter than expected, though its revenue topped forecasts.
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