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The U.S. stock market roared back on Friday, as technology stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin halted its plunge.
The S&P 500 rallied 2% for its best day since May, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,206 points, or 2.5%, and topped the 50,000 level for the first time. The Nasdaq composite rose 2.2%.
The S&P 500 jumped 134 points to close at 6,932. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,207 to 50,115.67 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 491 points to 23,031.
“Stocks are wrapping up a volatile week of trade on a high note. The S&P 500 has once again bounced directly off support at the 100-day moving average and surpassed resistance at 6,900. Broad-based buying pressure powered today’s rally as advancing shares are outpacing decliners by over 3:1,” Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, said in an email.
Tech companies helped drive the widespread rally, with chipmaker Nvidia jumping 7.8% to trim its loss for the week. Semiconductor company Broadcom climbed 7.1% and erased its drop for the week.
The two companies propped up the S&P 500, boosted by hopes for continued spending by customers on artificial-intelligence. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, for example, said late Thursday it expects to spend about $200 billion on investments this year to take advantage of “seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites.”
Such immense spending, similar to what Alphabet announced a day earlier, is creating concerns of its own, though. The question is whether all those dollars will generate profits to eclipse the spending. Amazon’s stock dropped 5.6% amid ongoing doubt about whether investment in AI will pay off for tech giants.
Even with Friday’s surge, the S&P 500 still fell to its third losing week in the last four. Concerns about AI potentially taking away market share from software companies also hurt the market. Software stocks suffered after AI firm Anthropic released free tools to automate things like legal services.
Bitcoin rebound
Bitcoin, meanwhile, steadied following a weekslong plunge that sent it more than halfway below its record price set in October. It climbed back above $70,000 after briefly dropping close to $60,000 late Thursday.
Prices in the metals market also calmed a bit following their own wild swings. Gold rose 1.8% to settle at $4,979.80 per ounce, while silver added 0.2%.
Their prices suddenly ran out of momentum last week following jaw-dropping rallies, which were driven by turning to the safe-haven asset amid concerns over mounting global geopolitical uncertainty.
On Wall Street, the recovery for bitcoin helped stocks of companies enmeshed in the crypto economy. Robinhood Markets jumped 14% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. Crypto trading platform Coinbase Global rose 13%. Strategy, the company that’s made a business of buying and holding bitcoin, soared 26.1%.
Improving consumer sentiment
Stocks of smaller U.S. companies also helped lead the market, as well as those that depend on U.S. households spending more money, which benefited from encouraging consumer sentiment data.
A preliminary report from the University of Michigan suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is improving slightly, surprising economists. The improvement was strongest among households that own stocks, which are benefiting from the S&P 500 setting a record late last month.
“Market sentiment improved after today’s positive report out of the University of Michigan. Median 1-year inflation expectations hit the lowest since January 2025, providing some comfort for investors eager to see improving inflation metrics,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, said in an email. “We think the markets may have to work through more jitters with a new Fed chair, but in the end, we think the Fed will cut rates later this year, which will grease the skids for more market appreciation.”
To be sure, sentiment “remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock holdings,” according to Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.
Airline stocks strengthened with hopes that more confidence among U.S. households will translate into more spending on trips. That included gains of 9.3% for United Airlines, 8% for Delta Air Lines and 7.6% for American Airlines.
