The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped Friday for its best session of the year, as investors wrapped up a strong month after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure came in largely around expectations.
The blue-chip Dow climbed 574.84 points, or 1.51%, to 38,686.32, lifted by Salesforce and UnitedHealth’s respective advances of 7.5% and 2.8%. The S&P 500 added 0.80% to 5,277.51. The Nasdaq Composite ticked lower by 0.01% to 16,735.02, as Nvidia and a few other megacap technology stocks took a hit.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped five-week win streaks with slides of 0.51% and 1.1%, respectively. The blue-chip Dow slipped 0.98%, marking a second straight week of losses.
Despite the tough week, it was a winning May, with each of the major benchmarks registering a sixth positive month in seven. The Dow added 2.3% this month, while the S&P 500 rose 4.8%. The Nasdaq gained 6.88%, notching its best month going back to November.
“The market is going to remain choppy,� said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, citing variables such as the upcoming election, Treasury yields and consumer spending. “There are questions as to: Where are we headed? Where’s the economy headed?�
A chunk of May’s strength can be attributed to a surge in Nvidia, which released blockbuster earnings last week. Though the artificial intelligence darling’s stock fell about 0.8% on Friday, shares ended the month nearly 27% higher. Tesla and Netflix also pulled back on Friday, hurting the tech-heavy Nasdaq in the session.
Closely followed economic data released Friday morning came mostly in line with forecasts. The core personal consumption expenditures price index increased 0.2% in April, the same figure that was anticipated by economists polled by Dow Jones. Core PCE rose 2.8% on an annualized basis, slightly above the 2.7% prediction from economists.
“This week’s most important economic data came and went without deviating much from expectations,� said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, adding that the market breathed a “sigh of relief� after the report.
Traders also reacted to the latest corporate earnings results. Dell Technologies tumbled more than 17% despite strong earnings after saying its AI server backlog was smaller than anticipated. Cloud security stock Zscaler popped 8.5%, while developer data platform MongoDB plunged almost 24%. Apparel retailer Gap jumped more than 28%.
