Stocks rallied Friday, but still posted their first losing week in six amid heightened inflation fears.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 179 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 gained about 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.9%.
The major averages closed the week lower after the hottest inflation report in 30 years. The Dow fell about 0.6%, the S&P 500 was 0.4% lower and the Nasdaq Composite dipped around 0.8%.
Despite the week’s losses, the three major averages are within striking distance of their record highs. The S&P 500 is up more than 24% in 2021.
The October consumer price index released Wednesday showed inflation at its hottest pace in more than 30 years. The fresh inflation reading sent bond yields higher and hit growth pockets of the equity market.
Friday’s market action is a “rebound from what happened earlier in the week,” said Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist of Crossmark Global Investments. “We’re starting to see maybe peak concern in the supply chain. We’ll get more information on that next week with retail earnings like Walmart and Target.”
Dow component Johnson & Johnson saw its shares rise more than 1% following a Wall Street Journal report that the company is splitting in two. Johnson & Johnson is reportedly breaking off its consumer health division into a separate publicly-traded company.
Mega-cap technology names provided support to the broader market. Facebook-parent Meta rallied more than 3%. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and each added more than 1%.
Fresh data out Friday morning underscored persistent inflation fears and provided insight into the labor market.
Consumer sentiment in early November dropped to its lowest level in a decade, the University of Michigan reported Friday. Many survey respondents cited inflation concerns, according to the report.
Meanwhile, workers left their jobs in record numbers in September with 4.43 million people quitting, the Labor Department reported Friday. The exodus occurred as the U.S. had 10.44 million employment openings that month, according to the report.
“The quits number continues to move higher, which tells us that people are still confident that they can get higher-paying jobs,” Fernandez said.
