Wall Street breaks 7-week losing streak, longest since 2001

Technology companies led a broad rally for stocks Friday as Wall Street notched its best week in 18 months, The Associated Press reported.

The gain broke a seven-week losing streak for the market, the longest such stretch since 2001.

The S&P 500 rose 2.5% and finished 6.6% higher for the week, its best weekly gain since November 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.8% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 3.3%.

The strong finish for the week came as investors received potentially encouraging news about inflation. The Commerce Department said that inflation rose 6.3% in April from a year earlier, the first slowdown since November 2020 and a sign that high prices may finally be moderating, at least for now.

The report was released as Wall Street looks for any signal that inflation could be easing, while trying to figure out just how low stocks might sink.

“At this point that’s all the market needs,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. “It’s definitely one of the signs you would want to see.”

The S&P 500 ended 100.40 points higher at 4,158.24. The Nasdaq rose 390.48 points to 12,131.13. It was the third straight gain for both indexes. The Dow rose 575.77 points to 33,212.96, its sixth-straight gain.

Smaller company stocks also gained ground. The Russell 2000 rose 49.66 points, or 2.7%, to 1,887.90.