Wall St. closes sharply higher, notches weekly gains

STORY: Wall Street rallied on Friday to end a volatile week, as economic data helped investors look past the growing likelihood that the Federal Reserve will have to keep its restrictive policy in place to tame inflation until late in the year.

The Dow gained more than a percent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.6% and the Nasdaq jumped nearly 2%.

U.S. Treasury yields eased in the wake of comments from Fed officials that calmed fears over inflation and interest rates.

And Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office, said investors are growing more accustomed to higher rates for longer.

“You've seen in some of the Fed funds markets that they've priced in a much higher terminal rate than they had even a week or two ago. And I think a lot of the positive economic numbers and the fact, have really supported markets this week. Technically, bouncing off of, for the S&P, bouncing off that 4000 level, and finding support there has been helpful. And I think people are adopting a more constructive mindset based on the fact that the economy is doing well, consumers are doing well, businesses are doing, overall, handling the higher rates pretty well too.”

Economic data released on Friday showed steady demand for services, with purchasing managers' indexes, or PMI, indicating that activity in the sector continues to expand even as input prices cool.

Apple jumped 3.5% after Morgan Stanley said the stock could rally more than 20% this year on a potential hardware subscription.

Broadcom advanced 5.7% after the chipmaker forecast second-quarter revenue above analysts' estimates as increased investments in AI spurred demand for chips.

Among the losers, Costco slipped 2.1% on the heels of its revenue miss, as high inflation dampened consumer demand.

And chipmaker Marvell Technology slid 4.7% in the wake of the company's quarterly profit miss and disappointing revenue forecast.