Wall Street closed higher on hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon take it easier on its hikes to interest rates, with the S&P 500 gaining 1 percent Thursday.
Several reports painted a picture of a split U.S. economy. The job market remains remarkably solid, but manufacturing is weakening and shoppers of all kinds are feeling pressure.
Altogether, investors saw the data pushing the Fed toward not hiking rates at its next meeting in two weeks. That would be the first time that’s happened in more than a year. The Nasdaq composite led the market’s gains as Big Tech stocks climbed.
On Thursday:
The S&P 500 rose 41.19 points, or 1 percent, to 4,221.02.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.30 points, or 0.5 percent, to 33,061.57.
The Nasdaq composite rose 165.70 points, or 1.3 percent to 13,100.98.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 18.29 points, or 1 percent, to 1,767.94.
For the week:
The S&P 500 is up 15.57 points, or 0.4 percent.
The Dow is down 31.77 points, or 0.1 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 125.29 points, or 1 percent.
The Russell 2000 is down 5.08 points, or 0.3 percent.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is up 381.52 points, or 9.9 percent.
The Dow is down 85.68 points, or 0.3 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 2,634.50 points, or 25.2 percent.
The Russell 2000 is up 6.69 points, or 0.4 percent.
