US markets end sharply higher on Friday

14 May 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended sharply higher on Friday as traders once again looked to go bargain hunting following the sharp decline shown by the markets over the past month. The markets have shrugged off a report from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment has deteriorated by much more than expected in the month of May. The report showed the consumer sentiment index tumbled to 59.1 in May from 65.2 in April. Street had expected the index to edge down to 64.0. With the much bigger than expected decrease, the consumer sentiment index slumped to its lowest level since hitting 55.8 in August of 2011.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed imports prices were unexpectedly unchanged in the month of April. The Labor Department said import prices came in flat in April after surging by an upwardly revised 2.9 percent in March. Street had expected import prices to climb by 0.6 percent compared to the 2.6 percent jump originally reported for the previous month. The report also showed the annual rate of growth in imports prices slowed to 12.0 percent in April from an upwardly revised 13.0 percent in March.

On the sectoral front, semiconductor stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, extending the modest rebound seen over the course of the previous session. Significant strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 5 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index bounced off a two-month closing low. Oil service stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, moving sharply higher along with the price of crude oil.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 466.36 points or 1.47 percent to 32,196.66, Nasdaq rose 434.04 points or 3.82 percent to 11,805.00 and S&P 500 was up by 93.81 points or 2.39 percent to 4,023.89.

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