Stocks rallied on Friday as traders digested a fresh batch of bank earnings and strong economic data, which alleviated some worries that the Federal Reserve may hike by 100 basis points to subdue rising inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 619 points, or 2.02%. The S&P 500 jumped 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.53%, but stocks remained on track for weekly losses.
“The market is getting a little bit more convinced that the Fed is probably not going to be delivering a full point rate increase at the end of the month and that we’re getting close to seeing peak Fed tightening get priced into the market,” said Edward Moya, a senior analyst at OANDA. That’s “giving some relief for investors to scale back into equities.”
A new round of bank results from Wells Fargo and Citigroup offered further insight into the state of the economy. Wells Fargo popped 6.4% even as quarterly profits declined 48% and the bank set aside funds for bad loans. Citigroup soared 11.2% as it beat estimates and benefited from a rising rate environment.
A day earlier, investors combed through troubling reports from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, which kicked off major bank earnings, and also weighed the likelihood of larger interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and looming recession concerns.
That, combined with strong preliminary consumer sentiment data and retail sales for June, appeared to soothe concerns that the Fed will hike by 100 basis points at upcoming policy meetings. It also indicated that consumers are bolstering retail spending even as inflation hits record highs.
The numbers are a sign of relief to equities, but a 75 basis point increase is still on deck for July, said Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics.
“The market seems to be welcoming the news, although retail strength could only add fuel to the Fed’s fire to continue its rate hike campaign to cool the economy and tame inflation,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at Morgan Stanley’s E-Trade Capital Management, noting that the numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
Friday’s results motivated a broad-based rally across the S&P 500. All major sectors moved higher on the day. Financials jumped more than 3%, boosted by surging bank shares. Healthcare bounced 2% as UnitedHealth rallied 5.1% on the back of strong quarterly results.
Battered tech stocks also jumped on Friday. Meta Platforms, Salesforce and Amazon gained 3% while Netflix jumped 5.4%. Goldman Sachs, UnitedHealth and JPMorgan Chase led the Dow’s recovery, rising more than 4% each.
For the week, the Dow is down 0.5%, while the S&P and Nasdaq have slipped 1.32% and 2.09%, respectively.
In corporate news, Pinterest shares surged 15% following a Wall Street Journal report that said activist investor Elliott Management took a stake of more than 9% in the social media company.
