S&P 500 gains on Friday as it heads for its best week since June

The S&P 500 gained on Friday and headed toward its best week since June as a report showing slowing inflation on Thursday raised hopes that the Federal Reserve would soon slow its tightening campaign.

The S&P 500 added 0.6%, bringing its gain for the week to more than 5%, its best week since the one ended June 24 of this year. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.1% as investors continued to buy tech shares on hopes interest rates would ease. The Dow Jones Industrial average was the outlier, shedding 0.2% as shares of defensive stocks UnitedHealth and Merck declined.

The Dow jumped more than 1,200 points on Thursday following a smaller-than-expected rise in consumer prices for the month of October, giving investors hope that inflation may be cooling. The S&P rose 5.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite surged about 7.4%. It was the best day since 2020 for all three.

Treasury yields plunged Thursday on the back of the weaker-than-expected inflation print and were continuing to fall on Friday. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 3.82% on Friday after ending last week at 4.16%.

“From an equity market perspective, as long as the threat of much higher rates is out the way, this should remove a major headwind,” Barclays’ Emmanuel Cau wrote in a Friday note.

Tech stocks on Friday shook off a decline in cryptocurrencies, which came under pressure Friday after FTX announced it’s filing for bankruptcy, and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried resigned. Bitcoin fell 6%, and ether declined more than 7%. Tech stocks and related crypto stocks rebounded after opening lower Friday.

All of the indexes are on pace for a winning week. The Dow is up 4% on a weekly basis, while the Nasdaq Composite is up more than 7%. This week is a resumption of a comeback rally for the bear market which began in mid-October, but paused in recent weeks. The S&P 500 is now up nearly 14% from its bear market low, but still down 16% for the year.

“Yesterday’s strength was notable, it was remarkable, it was historically significant, but it’s one day. It’s a single day. And we can’t read too much into that when we are still in a volatile period within a downtrend and challenging macro environment,” said U.S. Bank Wealth Management’s Bill Merz.