U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, ending the month and the first half of 2023 with robust gains as a long-anticipated economic recession failed to mat
U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, ending the month and the first half of 2023 with robust gains as a long-anticipated economic recession failed to materialize. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose about 283 points on Friday, or 0.8%, ending near 34,405, according to preliminary FactSet data. It gained 4.6% in June and 3.8% over the year’s opening six months, its best first half since 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Stocks have been in rally mode in 2023 as inflation continued to retreat under a regime of sharply higher interest rates. The bullish tone, especially for a select few technology stocks, has endured even as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell repeatedly said a few more interest-rate increases look likely this year, and that rates will likely stay high for awhile. Yet the U.S. economy hasn’t tipped into a recession, suggesting the Fed might have room to pull off a “soft landing” for the economy, or at least only a mild recession, as it fights to bring down the cost of living to its 2% annual target. On Friday, the personal-consumption expenditures price index, a key inflation gauge, eased to a 3.8% annual rate in May, the slowest level since April 2021. Against that backdrop, the S&P 500 index SPX rose 1.2% on the session, 2.3% in June and 15.9% in the first half, its best start to a year since 2019. But the Nasdaq Composite Index was the standout, gaining 1.5% on Friday and 31.7% in the first half of 2023, which was its best first half since 1983, according to Dow Jones Market Data.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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