U.S. stocks rallied closer to their records after the head of the Federal Reserve finally said out loud what Wall Street has been expecting for a while: Cuts to interest rates are coming soon to help the economy.
The S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent Friday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the time has come to lower its main interest rate from a two-decade high. The index is back within 0.6 percent of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1 percent, and the Nasdaq composite added 1.5 percent. Treasury yields fell in the bond market.
On Friday:
The S&P 500 rose 63.97 points, or 1.1 percent, to 5,634.61.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 462.30 points, or 1.1 percent to 41,175.08.
The Nasdaq composite rose 258.44 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,877.79.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 68.67 points, or 3.2 percent, to 2,218.70.
For the week:
The S&P 500 is up 80.36 points, or 1.4 percent.
The Dow is up 515.32 points, or 1.3 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 246.07 points, or 1.4 percent.
The Russell 2000 is up 76.78 points, or 3.6 percent.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is up 864.78 points, or 18.1 percent.
The Dow is up 3,485.54 points, or 9.2 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 2,866.44 points, or 19.1 percent.
The Russell 2000 is up 191.63 points, or 9.5 percent.
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