Stocks rallied on Friday, led by gains in technology and reopening names, as market participants set to recover from steep losses reached earlier in the week. However, market benchmarks ended the week in the red, with both the Dow and S&P 500 falling more than 1%, while the Nasdaq sunk over 2.3% lower, weighed down from weakness in tech names throughout the week.

The Commerce Department said retail sales remained unchanged in April over March, falling short of the 0.1% rise expected by Bloomberg consensus data. However, March's reading was upwardly revised to a 10.7% gain from the 9.8% previously reported, marking the biggest monthly gain since May 2020.

Excluding auto and gas sales, retail sales dropped 0.8% in April over March, far below the 0.3% rise expected. March's reader was also upwardly revised to 8.9% from the 8.2% reported prior.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment preliminary reading for May fell to 82.8, down from April's 88.3 and below the 90.0 reading expected as consumers weighed inflation concerns.

"Consumer confidence in early May tumbled due to higher inflation--the highest expected year-ahead inflation rate as well as the highest long term inflation rate in the past decade. Rising inflation also meant that real income expectations were the weakest in five years. The average of net price mentions for buying conditions for homes, vehicles, and household durables were more negative than any time since the end of the last inflationary era in 1980," said Richard Curtin, Surveys of Consumers chief economist, in a statement.

"Importantly, consumer spending will still advance despite higher prices due to pent-up demand and record saving balances. This combination of persistent demand in the face of rising prices creates the potential for an inflationary psychology, fostering buy-in-advance rationales and cost-of-living increases in wages."

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.49% or +61.24 points to 4,173.74

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +1.06% or +359.30 points to 34,390.75

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +2.32% or +304.99 points to 3,429.98

For Stocks, mega-cap tech names--Amazon (AMZN  ), Apple (AAPL  ), Facebook (FB  ), Google (GOOGL  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Tesla (TSLA  )--all rallied to carry the market higher. Reopening names like American Airlines (AAL  ), Carnival (CCL  ), Royal Caribbean (RCL  ) and United Airlines (UAL  ) all soared following the CDC's new guidance on mask wearing for fully vaccinated people.

For Sector Performance, all sectors closed in the green on Friday, with Energy (XLE  ), Information Technology (XLK  ) and Consumer Discretionary (XLC  ) leading gains.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) slipped lower on Friday after U.S. retail sales unexpectedly stalled in April and some inflation concerns eased. The dollar index was 0.5% lower at 90.317 against other major currencies in the afternoon. Gold (GLD  ) prices extended their gains on Friday on the weaker dollar, with spot gold rising by 0.7% to $1,838.57 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.8% higher at $1,837.80 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose on Friday on the falling dollar and the Colonial Pipeline restart, although gains were capped by the surging coronavirus outbreak in India. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 2.48% to $68.71 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 2.43% higher at $65.37 each.

For the week ahead, traders will look towards the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's latest monetary policy meeting as well as quarterly earnings from companies like Walmart (WMT  ) and Home Depot (HD  ).