The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Friday, posting 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, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.52% to 11,226.36, weighed down by shares of Activision Blizzard, which fell 4% by the news that the FTC could block Microsoft’s gaming company.
All three indices closed the week on the rise. The Dow is up 1.78% and the S&P 500 is up 1.53% for the short week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is lagging the other two indexes, but is still up 0.72% over the same time period.
Stocks were muted earlier in the week as traders waited minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting. The minutes showed that the central bank expects to slow the pace of interest rate hikes going forward, giving stocks a boost through the end of the week, even amid choppy sessions on low volumes of negotiation
“A substantial majority of participants felt that a slowdown in the rate of increase would likely be appropriate soon,” the minutes said.
A slew of strong retail earnings reports indicating some consumer strength, even amid concerns about economic weakness, also lifted stocks.
Concerns about continued containment in China kept markets under control. The country is increasing Covid restrictions after seeing an increase in the number of cases in recent days. Earlier in the week, China reported its first deaths from Covid since May.
Next week, investors will be on the lookout for more earnings reports from companies like Kroger and Ulta Beauty on the deck. On the economic front, traders will be watching for more comments from Federal Reserve officials, inflation reports and the November jobs release, through Friday.