Wall Street staged a small rally on Friday, propelling the S&P 500 to yet another record closing high and pulling the Dow Jones officially out of its coronavirus pandemic-induced bear market. Investor sentiment was positive as market participants the Federal Reserve's new policies to help keep the economy afloat, as well as fresh economic data that shows the financial crisis may be stabilizing. For the week, the Nasdaq led with a 3.39% gain, the S&P 500 was not too far behind with a 3.26% gain, and the Dow Jones followed with a 2.59% gain.
The boarder market gains on Friday came after the release of data on consumer spending and personal income from the U.S. Commerce Department. Both rose higher than expected for July, with consumer spending increasing 1.9% and personal income bumping up 0.4% when it was expected to decline.
"The July estimate for personal income and outlays was impacted by the response to the spread of COVID-19. Federal economic recovery payments continued but were at a lower level than in June, and government "stay-at-home" orders lifted in some areas of the country. The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the personal income and outlays estimate because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified," the Commerce Department said in a statement.
Here's how the market settled to close-out the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Major Stock News, tech shares continued to drive the broader market higher, with Alphabet
For Sector Performance, every industry was boosted by Friday's rally. The positive performance increases were as follows: Energy +1.85%, Materials +1.10%, Information Technology +0.96%, Consumer Staples +0.93%, Industrials +0.92%, Real Estate +0.72%, Consumer Discretionary +0.49%, Financials +0.45%, Communication Services +0.32%, Utilities +0.27%, and Health Care +0.20%.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
For the week ahead, market participants will still focus on coronavirus headlines as well as August's jobs report due at the end of the week.