U.S. markets bounced back on Friday, ending the week on the rebound following a massive Thursday sell-off that saw shares in every company on the Dow Jones Industrial Index lose value.
The Dow Jones gained 167 points on Friday to close at 17,113.15 – good for a 1.1% boost that comes one day after the blue-chip index plunged more than 260 points. The S&P 500 increased 0.9% on Friday after falling 1.6% a day earlier while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1%, recovering some of its 1.9% loss a day earlier.
Tech stocks led Thursday’s sell-off, but they were among the best-performing Nasdaq stocks on Friday. Apple (AAPL), which had dropped 3.8% after the tech giant pulled an update for its iOS8 following customer complaints, gained 2.9% after fixing the problem. Yahoo (YHOO), which had dipped 2.3% on Thursday, gained 4.4% after activist investors pushed it to buy AOL.
Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese e-commerce giant that posted a record-setting market debut a week ago, also saw its shares rise by 1.8% on Friday after they slipped earlier in the week following the company’s blockbuster IPO.
The market’s week-ending rebound was helped by positive economic news from the federal government, which revised its second quarter numbers to show that gross domestic product increased 4.6% this spring instead of the 4.2% growth rate it previously reported. The revised data means that the U.S. economy grew at its fastest rate since 2011 in this year’s second quarter. Meanwhile, a report from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan showed that consumer confidence rose this month to reach its highest point since July 2013.
Friday’s gains ended a volatile week for U.S. markets – one in which the Dow moved by at least 100 points five days in a row – starting with falling prices on Monday and Tuesday in response to the U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria as well as new government regulations meant to curb corporate tax inversions. Stocks rebounded on Wednesday, but then plummeted yesterday for a variety of reasons, including concern over the possibility that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than had been expected.
Despite ending the week on a positive note, however, each of the three major indices was down, overall, for the week.
