(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended mixed on Friday and the dollar rebounded, with investors catching their breath at the end of a busy week of monetary policy decisions and crucial economic data.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.15%, or 56.81 points, to 37,305.16 points. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 0.36 points, or 0.01%, to 4,719.19 points. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 52.36 points (0.35%) to 14,813.92.
Euphoria over the US Federal Reserve, which indicated on Wednesday that its monetary policy would ease more quickly than expected in 2024, was somewhat dampened after the President of the Federal Reserve of New York, John Williams, tempered the prospect of an imminent reduction in interest rates.
The three main US stock indexes oscillated for most of the session but recorded their seventh consecutive weekly increase.
This is the longest series of weekly gains for the S&P 500 since September 2017, and for the Dow since late 2018-early 2019.
Separately, economic data released Friday reported a recovery in business activity in the United States, but also showed that the manufacturing sector continued to struggle.
The dollar rebounded against a basket of benchmark currencies but the index recorded its biggest weekly decline in a month after the Fed’s shift. On the other hand, the Fed’s European counterparts maintained a firmer stance, which boosted the euro and the pound on Thursday.
The dollar rose 0.63% against a basket of currencies, while the euro fell 0.90% to $1.0892.
In terms of values, Costco Wholesale gained 2.85% after publishing a quarterly turnover higher than consensus.
(Written by Kate Entringer)
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