U.S. stocks hovered near the flatline Friday morning as investors looked toward the end of a week that has ushered in a recovery rally, with all three major indexes on pace to end the five-day stretch with gains.
The S&P 500 ticked down 0.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.09%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 54 points, or 0.15%. For the week, The S&P 500 has added more than 3%, while the Nasdaq is up 5%. The 30-stock Dow has advanced about 3%.
Shares of Nvidia are among the biggest winners among technology stocks on the week with a gain of 17%. Apple and Microsoft have advanced roughly 4% and 3%, respectively.
Retail sales data released Thursday came in much stronger than economists expected, while weekly jobless claims fell. Both offered evidence that recession fears, which helped spark a global sell-off earlier this month, were overblown. Inflation readings released earlier this week bolstered hopes that a soft landing scenario was still possible.
The data has helped assuage a jittery market and helped stocks recover to near all-time highs. The S&P 500 is now slightly more than 2% away from its mid-July record high, and the index has all but erased its losses from a steep sell-off last week.
“[The] data released over the past week has struck the right balance, being not too hot, nor too cold,” UBS head of investment for global wealth management Mark Haefele wrote on Friday. “This should help allay both concerns of a looming recession or that sticky inflation will hamper the Federal Reserve if swift rate cuts are needed to defend growth.”
On the economic front Friday, a Commerce Department report showed housing starts at 1.238 million and building permits at 1.396 million last month. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones forecast 1.34 million and building permits at 1.42 million in July, both lower than June. The University of Michigan also will release its consumer sentiment survey, which includes the outlook on inflation at the one- and five-year horizons.
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