Stocks rose Friday as Wall Street ended the final day of an eventful month and quarter in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped over 400 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.4% and 1.7%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.44% or +58.48 points to 4,109.31
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +1.26% or +415.12 points to 33,274.15
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.74% or +208.44 points to 12,221.91
Boosting market sentiment on Friday, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge showed a cooler-than-expected increase in prices in February. Many investors bet that easing inflation may cause the Fed to slow or even stop its aggressive rate hiking campaign.
The Commerce Department's personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% for the month, below expectations and January's 0.6% increase. On a 12-month basis, headline PCE rose 5% in February. Excluding food and energy prices, so-called Core PCE rose 0.3% monthly and 4.6% annually, both also below Wall Street expectations.
In other data from the report, personal income rose 0.3% last month and consumer spending increased 0.2%.
With the help of Friday's gains, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 3.51% and 6.69%, respectively, as tech shares outperformed the overall market; the Technology Select SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLK) rose about 10% in March. The Dow, meanwhile, rose 1.89% to close out March.
For the first quarter, the Nasdaq posted its best quarter since 2020, soaring nearly 17%. The S&P 500 also rose over 7%, while the Dow closed out the quarter slightly higher by 0.38%.
Those gains also were helped by a broader market comeback following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the forced-takeover of Credit Suisse earlier in March. The SPDR Regional Banking ETF (NYSE: KRE) rose about 1% higher on Friday, continuing its comeback from its rut earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell in March to 62 from 67 in February, marking the first time in four months that sentiment has declined.
"This month's turmoil in the banking sector had limited impact on consumer sentiment, which was already exhibiting downward momentum prior to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank," said Joanne Hsu, director of Surveys of Consumers, in a statement. "Overall, our data revealed multiple signs that consumers increasingly expect a recession ahead."
Looking ahead, market participants are in for more economic data next week, including March's key jobs report due out next Friday.