S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and DJIA All Close Slightly Higher, Resuming Market's Recent Rebound
Stocks ended slightly higher Friday as continued tame economic numbers allowed markets to extend a recent upward trend that reversed Wall Street’s big Aug. 2-5 sell-off.
The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$, $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ had drifted lower Friday morning, but reversed gears and all ended the session about 0.2% on the upside.
The DJIA led the way higher, gaining 96.7 points (0.24%) to a 40,659.76 finish. The Nasdaq Composite likewise rose 37.22 points (0.21%) to 17,631.72, while the SPX added 11.03 ticks (0.2%) to 5,554.25.61.
The gains allowed stocks to extend a trend of gaining ground during most recent session, allowing the major indexes to reverse a big pullback that Wall Street saw Aug. 2-5 following weaker-than-expected July U.S. jobs data.
That report sent the S&P 500, DJIA and Nasdaq Composite all down some 5% over two sessions on fears that the Federal Reserve's 2+ years of inflation-fighting higher interest rates had pushed the U.S. economy towards recession.
However, better data since then let markets recover all of those losses and more as figures pointed toward an economy that’s neither heading toward recession nor facing continued high inflation. Wall Street hopes that means the Fed can cut interest rates for the first time in years at next month's policy meeting.
The latest positive economic data came Friday morning, when the University of Michigan's monthly Consumer Sentiment Survey showed Americans are more confident about the economy. The survey's index rose to 67.8 in August, up from 66.4 in July and better than the 66.9 that analysts had forecast.
Individual stocks that rose significantly Friday included:
-- $B. Riley Financial (RILY.US)$, which rebounded 16.1% on word that company co-founder and co-CEO Bryan Riley is planning to offer $7 a share to take the firm private. That's a 23.9% premium over RILY's $5.65 Friday close. The offer capped week that saw RILY fall 70% in recent days after the firm suspended its dividend and disclosed receiving regulatory subpoenas amid questions about its involvement with a questionable management-led buyout of a company called Franchise.
-- $Rocket Lab (RKLB.US)$, which gained 12.5% on news that the space-systems firm has shipped two Mars spacecraft to NASA. RKLB already had a 12.5% run-up on Thursday, apparently as part of a rally in the space-related sector sparked by a 50%+ rise for $AST SpaceMobile (ASTS.US)$ on word of plans for its first satellite launch.
-- $Planet Labs PBC (PL.US)$, which rallied 16.1% on the launch Friday of its first hyperspectral satellite into space. PL had already gained 4% Thursday, apparently as part of that session’s up move for many space-related stocks.
Meanwhile, stocks with large losses Friday included:
-- $Wheels Up Experience (UP.US)$, which pulled back 13% to after the private-jet firm enjoyed a 32.5% run-up over the past three days.
-- $Sidus Space (SIDU.US)$, down 20.3% following a 37.5% rally Thursday in apparent sympathy with ASTS's rise. ASTS itself gave back only 1% of Thursday's big run-up.
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