Stocks rose in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday, keeping the market on track for its fifth gain in a row.
The S&P 500 was up 0.3% and was solidly on track for a weekly gain that will erase most of last week’s loss.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 352 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1% as of 2:05 p.m. Eastern.
Markets have been volatile over the last few weeks, losing ground in the runup to elections in November, then surging following Donald Trump’s victory, before falling again. The S&P 500 has been steadily rising throughout this week to within close range of its record.
“Overall, market behavior has normalized following an intense few weeks,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, in a statement.
Several retailers jumped after giving Wall Street encouraging financial updates.
Gap soared 10.8% after handily beating analysts’ third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its own revenue forecast for the year. Discount retailer Ross Stores rose 2.2% after raising its earnings forecast for the year.
EchoStar fell 3.3% after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company’s Dish Network unit.
Smaller company stocks had some of the biggest gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.7%.
A majority of stocks in the S&P 500 were gaining ground, but those gains were kept in check by slumps for several big technology companies.
Nvidia fell 3.2%. Its pricey valuation makes it among the heaviest influences on whether the broader market gains or loses ground. The company has grown into a nearly $3.6 trillion behemoth because of demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology.
Intuit, which makes TurboTax and other accounting software, fell 5.6%. It gave investors a quarterly earnings forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms fell 0.8% following a decision by the Supreme Court to allow a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit to proceed against the company. It stems from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
European markets were mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Crude oil prices rose.
Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.40% from 4.42% late Thursday.
In the crypto market, Bitcoin hovered around $99,000, according to CoinDesk. It has more than doubled this year and first surpassed the $99,000 level on Thursday.
Retailers remained a big focus for investors this week amid close scrutiny on consumer spending habits headed into the holiday shopping season. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, reported a quarter of strong sales and gave investors an encouraging financial forecast. Target, though, reported weaker earnings than analysts’ expected and its forecast disappointed Wall Street.
