US stocks rose on Friday in response to a fresh round of bank earnings and promising economic data as fears of a 100 basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve eased fears of rising inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.15% to settle at 31,288.26 points, the S&P 500 climbed 1.92% to 3863.16, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.79% to 11,452.42.
Despite Friday’s rally, all major indices closed the week with losses, with the Dow Jones down 0.2% while the S&P and Nasdaq fell 0.9% and regarding 1.6%, respectively.
Friday’s fresh round of banking results from Wells Fargo and Citigroup showed more insight into the state of the economy, with Wells Fargo shares up regarding 6.2% even as quarterly profit fell 48% and the bank set aside funds for bad loans.
Citigroup stock also rose by 13.2% as it beat estimates and benefited from the current price hike.
Alongside the fresh bank earnings, traders digested the strong preliminary consumer confidence data and beat expectations of retail sales.
These numbers seemed to allay fears that the Fed would raise 100 basis points in upcoming policy meetings, and indicated that consumers are boosting retail spending even as inflation hits record levels.
Affected tech stocks also jumped on Friday, with platforms Meta, Salesforce and Amazon gaining 4.2%, 3.9% and 2.6%, respectively, and Netflix up 8.2%.
Shares of Pinterest rose nearly 16.2% following a Wall Street Journal report that said activist investment management firm Elliott Management It acquired more than 9% of the social media company.
