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The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed on Friday, as investors wrapped up a strong month after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure came in largely around expectations.
The 30-stock index popped 574.84 points, or 1.5%, to 38,686.32, led higher by Salesforce’s hike of more than 7%, and UnitedHealth’s advances of more than 2%.
The S&P 500 fought its way back into the “win” column, gaining 42.03 points to 5,277.51.
The NASDAQ climbed to within 2.06 points of breakeven to 16,735.01, as Nvidia and other megacap technology stocks took a hit.
The S&P 500 slid 0.5% and NASDAQ declined 1.1%, each snapping five-week win streak. The blue-chip Dow slipped 1%, marking a second straight week of losses.
Despite those moves, it was a winning May, with each of the major benchmarks registering a sixth positive month in seven. The Dow is up 2.3% this month, while the S&P 500 is 4.8% higher. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has gained 6.8%.
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 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.
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%.
The core personal consumption expenditures price index increased 0.2% in April, in line with the consensus forecast of economists polled by Dow Jones, according to data released Friday. Core PCE rose 2.8% on an annualized basis, slightly above the 2.7% prediction from economists.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained a bit of ground, lowering yields to 4.50% from Thursday’s 4.55%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices shed 66 cents to $77.25 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked $17.80 to $2,348.70.
