US close: Dow Jones snaps seven-week losing streak

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks closed sharply higher on Friday as market participants digested some key inflation data.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.76% at 33,212.96, while the S&P 500 was 2.47% firmer at 4,158.24 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.33% stronger at 12,131.13.

The Dow closed 575.55 points higher on Friday, extending gains recorded in the previous session and snapping a seven-week-long losing streak.

Friday's primary focus was news that a key measure of inflation in the US dipped last month, even as personal incomes and spending continued growing at a steady clip. According to the Department of Commerce, in April personal incomes and spending grew at a month-on-month pace of 0.4% (consensus: 0.5%) and 0.7% (consensus: 0.6%), respectively. The annual rate of change in the headline price deflator for personal consumption expenditures meanwhile slipped from 6.6% for March to 6.3% this time around.

Elsewhere on the macro front, America's shortfall in trade with the rest of the world fell sharply last month as imports declined. According to a preliminary estimate from the Department of Commerce, America's deficit in its international trade in goods and services shrank by 15.9%, in seasonally adjusted terms, to reach $105.9bn. That was considerably less than the -$115.0bn deficit that economists had pencilled-in.

Finally, the University of Michigan's May consumer sentiment index was revised down from a preliminary reading of 59.1 to 58.4 for the lowest reading since August 2011 as consumers continued to hold negative views on current buying conditions for houses and durables, as well as the future outlook for the economy, primarily due to concerns over inflation.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention was news that Ukraine's President has held out an olive branch to the Kremlin, even as he sounded a downbeat note on the likelihood that Moscow would take it.

According to Reuters, in remarks to an Indonesian thinktank, Volodymyr Zelenskiy reportedly said: "There are things to discuss with the Russian leader.

"I'm not telling you that to me our people are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through."

In the corporate space, Gap shares slumped after the retailer lowered its full-year profit guidance, while Ulta Beauty shares rallied after revealing better-than-expected quarterly results overnight.

No major corporate earnings were released on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $149.64 4.08%
Boeing Co. (BA) $132.23 3.52%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $109.32 3.51%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $273.24 2.76%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $115.99 2.70%
American Express Co. (AXP) $169.60 2.56%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $44.55 2.46%
Visa Inc. (V) $212.88 2.08%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $128.48 1.97%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $217.09 1.95%