US close: S&P 500 extends recent rally

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 higher on Friday as the S&P 500 extended its recent rally for a fourth consecutive day.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.80% at 34,754.93, while the S&P 500 was 1.17% firmer at 4,463.12 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.05% stronger at 13,893.84.

The Dow closed 274.17 points higher on Friday, extending gains recorded in the previous session as investors digested the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, jobless claims data, and news out of Russia and Ukraine.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict was again in focus on Friday after multiple missiles struck an aircraft repair centre on the edge Lviv in western Ukraine, while a Ukrainian official revealed that one person was killed in an airstrike that hit the nation's capital of Kyiv.

President Joe Biden was also scheduled to speak with Chinese president Xi Jinping to discuss the ongoing conflict later in the day.

Rising Covid cases in Europe stemming from an emerging subvariant were also drawing an amount of investor attention as Covid cases increased sharply in the UK over recent weeks, while Germany continued to report record high daily infections, with more than 250,000 new cases a day. France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands have also seen Covid infections start to rise due to the relaxation of safety measures and BA.2 Omicron subvariant.

On the macro front, the Conference Board's leading index increased by 0.3% in February to 119.9, following a 0.5% drop in January and a 0.8% uptick in December.

Elsewhere, existing home sales sank 7% month-on-month to 6.02m in February, according to the National Association of Realtors, below market forecasts for a print of 6.1m for the lowest reading in six months.

No major corporate earnings were released on Friday.

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $218.80 3.99%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $131.24 3.01%
Visa Inc. (V) $219.11 2.65%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $163.98 2.09%
American Express Co. (AXP) $190.62 2.01%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $300.43 1.76%
Boeing Co. (BA) $192.83 1.39%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $340.74 1.30%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $161.73 0.80%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $47.45 0.66%