Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Friday for their fifth straight day, buoyed by the U.S.-China tariff truce earlier in the week even as economic survey data showed a deterioration in consumer sentiment. The S&P 500 steadily added to gains from late morning, while investors took weak data in their stride. The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its Consumer Sentiment Index slumped further in May while one-year inflation expectations surged to 7.3% from 6.5% last month. All three main indexes boasted weekly gains after starting out with a steep rally on Monday – after Washington and Beijing agreed to a 90-day pause in their escalating trade war. This was days after the U.S. President and British Prime Minister announced a limited bilateral trade agreement.
Investors were also left waiting for clarity on U.S. tax policy as the President’s sweeping tax bill failed to clear a key procedural hurdle as hardline Republicans demanding deeper spending cuts blocked the measure in a rare political setback for the Republican president in Congress.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 331.99 points, or 0.78%, to 42,654.74, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 41.45 points, or 0.70%, to 5,958.38 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 98.78 points, or 0.52%, to 19,211.10. For the week, the S&P 500 gained about 5.3% while the Nasdaq rose 7.2% and the Dow added 3.4%. Among the S&P 500’s 11 major industry indexes, most advanced with energy .SPNY the sole loser, down 0.18%. The biggest gainer was healthcare .SPXHC , which ended up 1.96% for the day after a volatile week. One of its biggest index point boosts was from UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH.N , which regained ground – rising 6.4% on Friday and leading S&P 500 percentage gains – after eight straight days of steep losses. Investors were warily expecting strategic changes at the insurer after the Wall Street Journal reported it was under a criminal probe by the Justice Department.
Among other individual stocks, Applied Materials AMAT.O shares slipped 5.3% after the provider of equipment for chip manufacturing missed estimates for second-quarter revenue. Charter Communications CHTR.O shares rose 1.8% after the cable company said it would buy privately held rival Cox Communications for $21.9 billion. Shares in Verizon Communications VZ.N rose 1.7% after the Federal Communications Commission said Friday it was approving its $20 billion purchase of fiber-optic internet provider Frontier Communications FYBR.O after the largest U.S. telecom company agreed to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.72-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 207 new highs and 34 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,792 stocks rose and 1,607 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.74-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 62 new highs and 73 new lows. On U.S. exchanges, 17.61 billion shares changed hands on Friday compared with the 17.04 billion average from the last 20 sessions.
Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Shashwat Chauhan and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Deepa Babington.
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