US markets jump back and forth to close higher on Friday amid in-line inflation data

01 Mar 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher after US President stated that the 25 percent duties on imports from Canada and Mexico would come into effect on March 4 and will levy additional 10 percent charges on Chinese goods. The market participants opted to buy stocks at reduced level following Thursday’s weakness which saw Nasdaq tumbled to a nearly four-month closing low. The markets turned jubilant after Commerce Department report showed that the closely watched readings on U.S. consumer price inflation in the month of January easing to 2.5 percent from 2.6 percent in December, in line with street estimates. Meanwhile, the dollar index strengthened to 107.56, up by 0.30 percent, uplifting the trading sentiments.

On sectorial front, Natural gas stocks moved sharply higher despite a steep drop by the price of the commodity, resulting in a 2.1 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. Substantial strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent surge by the KBW Bank Index. Semiconductor, retail and utilities stocks also moved significantly higher over the course of the session, while computer hardware stocks saw considerable weakness on the day. A steep drop by NetApp (NTAP) weighed on the computer hardware sector, with the data infrastructure company plunging by 15.6 percent after reporting weaker than expected fiscal third quarter revenues and providing disappointing fiscal fourth quarter earnings guidance.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 601.41 points or 1.39 percent to 43,840.91, Nasdaq surged 302.86 points or 1.63 percent to 18,847.28 and S&P 500 was up by 92.93 points or 1.59 percent to 5,954.5. 


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