US close: Stocks end session higher following CPI reading

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.60% at 35,970.99, while the S&P 500 was 0.95% stronger at 4,712.02 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.73% firmer at 15,630.60.

The Dow closed 216.30 points higher on Friday after the blue-chip index was stopped short of a fourth-straight day of gains in the previous session.

Friday's primary focus was the revelation that US inflation had surged to a 39-year high in November amid supply constraints, according to the Labor Department. Consumer prices rose 0.8% on the month, down from 0.9% growth in October and taking the annual rate to 6.8%, up from 6.2% the month before. This marked the biggest annual jump since 1982.

Core CPI, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy, rose 0.5% in November from a 0.6% increase the month before. Over the last 12 month, core CPI increased 4.9% - the largest annual increase since the period ending June 1991. Economists expected to see a higher inflation print of around 0.7%.

The reading was also seen as having the potential to lead the Federal Reserve to speed up the tapering of its $120.0bn monthly bond-buying programme.

Elsewhere on the macro front, American consumers' confidence was little changed at the start of December, but there were signs of a potential wage-price spiral taking form, according to a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index. In December, the index printed at 70.4, up from 67.4 in the month before and ahead of forecasts for a reading of 68.0. The headline index was little changed versus its average level for over the previous four months of 70.6.

No major corporate earnings were released on Friday.