Stocks on Wall Street shook off a weak start and closed slightly higher Friday, snapping a four-week losing streak.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.1%. The index finished with a 0.5% gain for the week. It’s still down 4.8% so far this month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1% gain, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.5%.
Technology stocks, which had been the heaviest weights on the market in the early going, bounced back to offset a big share of the declines elsewhere in the S&P 500. The sector has been at the center of much of the market’s recent sell-off in a reversal from their market-driving gains throughout the previous year. The stocks are among the most valuable on Wall Street and have outsized impacts on the whether the market gains or loses ground.
Apple rose about 2% and Microsoft added 1.1%. Another Big Tech stock, Nvidia, fell 0.7%, while Micron Technology slid 8% for the biggest decline among S&P 500 stocks.
Stocks have been losing ground for weeks over uncertainty about the direction of the U.S. economy. A trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners threatens to worsen inflation and hurt both consumers and businesses. Inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2% and tariffs could hurt the central bank’s efforts to ease the rate of inflation.
President Donald Trump has set an April 2 deadline to impose more tariffs on trading partners. It follows a series of other deadlines that have been set for tariffs only to be postponed, sometimes at the last minute.
“Investors are confused, but there’s a lot less panic infusing the market,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide.
Businesses have been warning investors about tariffs, inflation and growing uncertainty about the impact to costs.
Nike slumped 5.5% after it forecast a steep decline in revenue in the current quarter, blaming geopolitical dynamics, new tariffs by the Trump administration and a less confident consumer.
FedEx tumbled 6.4% after the package delivery company said it expects revenue to be flat to slightly down year-over-year and lowered its per-share profit guidance.
Homebuilder Lennar fell 4% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected forecast for new orders and average sales prices for the current quarter. It said high interest rates, inflation, and waning consumer confidence are weighing on an already tough housing market.
High interest rates have been a key issue for the housing market. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady at its most recent meeting this week as it assesses the potential impact from tariffs and other U.S. policy shifts.
