NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street toured Friday’s strong week as U.S. stocks glided at all-time highs a few months ago, though it felt like an economic era.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% for the fifth consecutive time and ended its third week in the last four. With hope established, President Donald Trump will lower tariffs on other countries after a trade deal with them, thus lagging behind February's record within 3% of the record set in February.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 331 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.
Trump's trade war has caused financial markets to be ripped off the world due to the danger of twins. On the one hand, tariffs could slow down the economic situation and bring it into recession. On the other hand, tariffs may drive higher inflation.
There is some encouraging news in every aspect this week. The United States and China declared a 90-day downfall in most of the punishment tariffs that punished each other, and a couple who reported on U.S. inflation was better than economists expected.
It was a "week to remember," according to American economists led by Claudio Irigoyen and Antonio Gabriel. But they also said they would not expect a significant drop in volatility, nor would they change the big-picture forecast.
"There is still a lot of uncertainty about the impact of tariffs on economic activity and inflation," they said in a BOFA Global Research Report.
This uncertainty has been hitting households and businesses in the United States, raising concerns among people who may freeze their spending and long-term plans, which will hurt the economy. The latest reading from the University of Michigan survey of American consumers suggests that May has created feelings again, although the pace of decline is not as bad as previous months.
Perhaps more worrying is that expectations for upcoming inflation will support 7.3% over the next 12 months, according to preliminary survey results from the University of Michigan. This is higher than the forecast of 6.5% each month.
When everyone expects inflation to be high, it may initiate a vicious cycle of behavior that only worsens inflation.
To be sure, only some preliminary readings from the University of Michigan were conducted after the United States and China announced a 90-day truce.
On Wall Street, Charter Communications rose 1.8%, and the company said it agreed to a merger with Cox Communications to combine the deal between the country’s two largest cable companies. The final company will be renamed Cox Communications and keep the Charter's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
Coreweave rose 22.1% after Nvidia revealed it increased its ownership stake in the company, and its cloud platform helps customers run AI workloads. NVIDIA now owns 7% of Coreweave, nearly 6% of Coreweave’s shares in its initial public offering in March.
Novo Nordisk's U.S.-traded shares fell 2.7% after the Danish company of Wegovy Drugs for Sgeing Lows said Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen would serve as CEO and the board is looking for his successor. The company cites "recent market challenges" and the stock's recent performance.
All in all, the S&P 500 rose 41.45 points to 5,958.38. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed to 331.99 to 42,654.74, while the Nasdaq Comprehensive grew at 98.78 to 19,211.10.
In the bond market, fiscal yields remain relatively stable.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.44% from 4.45% at 4.45% on Thursday night and exceeded 4.50% from the previous day. Lower bond yields can encourage investors to pay higher prices for stocks and other investments.
The two-year fiscal yield tracks the Fed's expectations for action more closely, rising from 3.96% to 3.99%. The low in the early morning was as high as 3.93% before the University of Michigan survey was released.
Hope remains that this week’s expectations of inflation, if high tariffs delay the U.S. economy, the leeway to lower interest rates later this year could make the Fed more from time to time.
In foreign stock markets, Europe's index rose slightly in Europe after the end of the Asian mix.
The government report said the Japanese economy was signing faster than expected in the first quarter of this year, with Tokyo's Nickelode 225 inches down less than 0.1%.
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Associated Press writers Jiang Zhuz and Matt Ott contributed.