After the head of the Federal Reserve indicated it will “proceed carefully” in deciding what to do with interest rates, Wall Street ended its three-week losing skid by closing higher.
The S&P 500 gained 0.7% on Friday after briefly fluctuating between tiny gains and losses. The Nasdaq composite increased 0.9%, and the Dow gained 247 points.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated in a much-anticipated speech that the Fed will base future interest rate decisions on what incoming data reports regarding inflation and the economy have to say.
Last Friday:
To reach 4,405.71, the S&P 500 gained 29.40 points, or 0.7%.
To reach 34,346.90, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 247.68 points, or 0.7%.
To reach 13,590.65, the Nasdaq composite gained 126.67 points, or 0.9%.
Smaller business index Russell 2000 increased 7.35 points, or 0.4%, to 1,853.63.
This week:
Increasing by 36 points, or 0.8%, is the S&P 500.
The Dow is down by 0.4%, or 153.76 points.
299,871 points, or 2.3%, are added to the Nasdaq.
5.79 points, or 0.3%, are being lost by the Russell 2000.
As for the year:
S&P 500 gains 566.21 points, or 14.7%, today.
The Dow has gained 1,199.65 points, or 3.6%, thus far.
The increase on the Nasdaq is 3,124.16 points, or 29.8%.
The Russell 2000 is up 5.2%, or 92.38 points.