US markets end higher on Friday

01 Jul 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the advance, following the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth in the month of May. The report said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 3.8 percent in May from 4.3 percent in April. The slowdown surprised economists, who had expected growth to accelerate to 4.6 percent. The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, also slowed to 4.6 percent in May from 4.7 percent in April. Street had expected the pace of growth to be unchanged. The readings on consumer price inflation, which are said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, were included in the Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending.

On the sectoral front, airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 2.0 percent to its best closing level in over a year. Significant strength was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength in the gold sector came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for August delivery climbing $11.50 to $1,929.40 an ounce. Semiconductor, retail and oil service stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 285.18 points or 0.84 percent to 34,407.60, Nasdaq added 196.59 points or 1.45 percent to 13,787.92 and S&P 500 was up by 53.94 points or 1.23 percent to 4,450.38.

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