The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Friday, notching a gain during the holiday-shortened trading week.
The Dow rose 152.97 points, or 0.45% to 34,347.03, marking the third consecutive session of gains. The S&P 500 fell 0.03% to end the day at 4,026.12. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.52% to 11,226.36, weighed down by shares of Activision Blizzard, which fell 4% on news that the FTC could block Microsoft from taking over the gaming company.
All three indexes ended the week higher. The Dow is up 1.78%, and the S&P 500 is up 1.53% during the short week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is lagging the other two indexes but is still up 0.72% in the same timeframe.
Stocks were muted at the start of the week as traders waited for minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting. The minutes showed that the central bank anticipates slowing the pace of interest rate hikes going forward, which gave stocks a boost into the end of the week even amid choppy sessions due to low trading volumes.
“A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” the minutes stated.
A slew of solid retail earnings reports signaling some consumer strength even amid worries of economic weakness also lifted stocks.
Worries about continued lockdowns in China kept markets in check. The country is ramping up Covid restrictions after seeing climbing case counts in recent days. Earlier in the week, China reported its first Covid deaths since May.
Next week, investors will be watching for more earnings reports from companies such as Kroger and Ulta Beauty on deck. On the economic front, traders will be watching further comments from Fed officials, as well as the release of the personal consumption expenditure report on Thursday — the central bank’s preferred inflation indicator. The November jobs print is due Friday.
