US: Share gains cut into week’s losses
[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks finished higher on Friday (Mar 14) following bargain hunting that reduced the week’s losses amid recession worries over President Trump’s shifting tariff policy.
Major indices opened higher and remained in positive territory through the day, shrugging off a downcast reading on US consumer sentiment.
Analysts pointed to the diminished odds of a US government shutdown as supportive of stocks after Democratic Senate Leader Charles Schumer backed a spending bill favoured by Republican President Donald Trump.
The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 5,638.94, up 2.1 per cent for the day, but down 2.3 per cent for the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7 per cent to 41,488.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.6 per cent to 17,754.09.
A consumer survey by the University of Michigan said expectations for the future “deteriorated”, with “many consumers”: citing a “high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors”.
The report came as economists warn that Trump’s wide-ranging and unpredictable trade policy risks delaying investments, raising the odds of a recession.
Major indices dropped more than one per cent on Thursday after Trump threatened a 200 per cent tariff on European Union wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages following the EU’s announced countermeasures against new US steel and alumium tariffs.
On Friday, all 11 sectors of the S&P 500 posted gains, while the Dow index was mostly up. AFP
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