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Stocks closed higher Friday as Wall Street recovered following a shaky start to the new year.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 339.86 points to 42,732.13.
The S&P 500 spiked 73.92 points, or 1.3%, to 5,942,47.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 340.88 or 1.8%, to 19,621,68.
Tech stocks were a bright spot for the market on Friday. Chip giant Nvidia climbed 4.7%, while server maker Super Micro Computer jumped 10.9%.
Those stocks could benefit from continued spending on artificial intelligence, as will Constellation Energy and Vistra, with shares up 4% and 8.5%, respectively. Microsoft announced Friday that it would spend $80 billion on AI-enabled data centers in the 2025 fiscal year, and power producers have been boosted by the trend.
Friday’s move came off a choppy trading session on Thursday that saw stocks close lower after a morning rally. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have fallen for five straight trading sessions, their longest losing streak since April of last year.
Stocks are on pace to close out the week with losses even with Friday’s gains. The 30-stock Dow dipped 0.5% and the S&P 500 was lower by around 0.5%. The NASDAQ Composite has dropped 0.6%.
Both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ announced this week that they plan to close their equity and options markets next Thursday in observance of a National Day of Mourning for the 39th U.S. president and global humanitarian
On the economic data front, the ISM Manufacturing Index came in at 49.3 for December. That is above expectations of 48.0, according to Dow Jones, but is still below the level of 50 that signifies expansion in the sector.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury faded, raising yields to 4.60% from Thursday’s 4.56 %. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked 90 cents to $74.03 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold declined $17.10 an ounce to $2,651.90 U.S.
