Stocks jumped Friday, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite notched their best week since November as Big Tech names rallied on strong earnings and traders pored through fresh U.S. inflation data.
The broad market index advanced 1.02% to settle at 5,099.96. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.03% to close at 15,927.90 and secure its best daily move since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.86 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 38,239.66.
The S&P and Nasdaq clinched their best week since November. The S&P popped 2.7% to snap a three-week losing streak, while the Nasdaq gained 4.2% for its first positive week in five. The Dow edged up 0.7%.
"We are finishing a volatile week on a strong note," said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. "It's nice to see some green on the screen. Clearly one of the drivers has been the stellar reports coming out of megacap technology."
Stocks got a boost from robust results from artificial intelligence competitors Alphabet and Microsoft after the bell Thursday. Alphabet jumped more than 10% on better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and recorded its best day since July 2015. The company also authorized its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion buyback. Microsoft added nearly 2% as the software maker posted strong fiscal third-quarter results and showed an acceleration in cloud growth.
Both companies have impressed investors by not only investing in artificial intelligence, but also by showing results, Mahajan said. The prints also helped alleviate some fears on the back of Meta Platforms' disappointing guidance earlier this week, she said.
Investors also parsed March's core personal consumption expenditures reading following a spate of reports that suggested slowing growth and sticky inflation. The gauge, excluding food and energy, rose 2.8% from a year ago and came in ahead of the 2.7% expected by Dow Jones. Personal spending rose 0.8%, ahead of a 0.7% estimate.
Those moves helped Wall Street regain some of its footing after a down day. The blue-chip Dow slid 375 points Thursday after new U.S. economic data showed a sharp slowdown in growth and pointed to persistent inflation.
The busy earnings season continues next week, headlined by results from technology giants Apple and Amazon. The Federal Reserve's next rate decision is due out Wednesday.