The S&P ended the day at 5,954.50 points, up 1.59%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.39% to 43,840.91 points, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.63% to 18,847.28 points.
After a tumultuous trading session, Wall Street closed Friday higher, with tech companies rising and Dell Technologies falling following a disastrous meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Trump and Zelenskiy verbally sparred in front of the world’s media at the White House. For investors already concerned about sticky U.S. inflation and a weak economy, this added to the uncertainty surrounding Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.
Following the fight, the S&P 500 fell but later recovered and finished the day higher. Zelenskiy departed the White House without concluding a highly anticipated agreement between the United States and Ukraine about the cooperative development of natural resources.
“The news was somewhat disturbing if you saw it live. Zelenskiy is seen as an ally of the United States, and it became hot,” stated Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments. “The market sold off, but more sensible people won out. Zelenskiy will either strike a deal or he won’t.
After the PC manufacturer predicted a dip in its adjusted gross margin rate for fiscal 2026, Dell fell 4.7%. After its quarterly profit projections fell short of expectations, peer HP Inc. saw a 6.8% decline. Tesla and Nvidia had over 4% increases, which helped the S&P 500.
The S&P ended the day at 5,954.50 points, up 1.59%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.39% to 43,840.91 points, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.63% to 18,847.28 points. 17.5 billion shares were exchanged on U.S. exchanges, a high volume compared to the average of 15.4 billion for the preceding 20 sessions.
All 11 S&P 500 sector indices increased, with financials leading the way with a 2.1% gain and consumer discretionary following with a 1.8% rise. The Dow gained about 1% for the week, the Nasdaq dropped 3.5%, and the S&P 500 declined around 1%.
The Nasdaq saw its worst monthly decline since April 2024, losing around 4% for February. The Dow lost 1.6% for the month, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.45%.
According to a Commerce Department report, inflation increased in January as predicted. However, following an upwardly revised 0.8% growth in December, consumer spending—over two-thirds of the economy—dropped 0.2%. This may make the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy discussions more difficult.
“Spending was lower than we had anticipated. I would ascribe this to a cooling economy, which poses a conundrum for the Fed because inflation is still there while the economy is contracting. Stagflation is the result of adding them all together, according to Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at Spartan Capital Securities.
Investors attempting to predict the central bank’s future course of action should pay close attention to Friday’s report, as officials reaffirmed their hawkish position. Investors fear that Trump’s proposals, particularly trade barriers, may worsen inflation in the United States.
Sam Stovall, chief financial analyst at CFRA Research, stated, “Tariff talk is undoubtedly hurting the stock market, and it probably will keep a lid on stock market advances until there’s more clarity around that.”
Data provided by LSEG shows that traders expect the Fed to cut borrowing prices twice by December, with no change from before the release. Later in the day, investors will evaluate remarks made by Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee.
Wall Street’s fear measure, the CBOE Volatility Index, reached a one-month high and was last up 21.26 points. Within the S&P 500, rising issues outweighed falling ones by a ratio of 7.1 to 1. The Nasdaq had 43 new highs and 332 new lows, while the S&P 500 saw 39 new highs and 14 new lows.
