NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street cruised to the finish of its strong week on Friday, as U.S. stocks glided closer to the all-time high they set just a few months earlier, though it may feel like an economic era ago.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% for a fifth straight gain and closed out its third winning week in the last four. It’s rallied back within 3% of its record set in February after briefly dropping roughly 20% below last month, thanks to building hopes that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs against other countries after reaching trade deals with them.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 331 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.
Trump’s trade war had sent financial markets reeling worldwide because of twin dangers. On one hand, tariffs could slow the economy and drive it into a recession. On the other, tariffs could push inflation higher.
This week featured some encouraging news on each of those fronts. The United States and China announced a 90-day stand-down in most of their punishing tariffs against each other, while a couple reports on inflation in the United States came in better than economists expected.