NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rallying Friday, though not by enough to keep Wall Street from heading toward a fourth straight losing week, which would be its longest such streak since August.
The S&P 500 was 1.9% higher in midday trading, a day after closing more than 10% below its record for its first “ correction ” since 2023. It’s on track for its best day since the day after President Donald Trump’s election, when Wall Street was focusing mostly on the possibility for lower taxes and other benefits for corporate profits.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 625 points, or 1.5%, as of noon Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.4% higher.
A multi-day “relief rally could be coming” after so much negativity built among investors, said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management. Swings in sentiment don’t go full-tilt in just one direction forever, and the U.S. stock market has been tumbling quickly since setting a record less than a month ago.
One piece of uncertainty hanging over Wall Street may be clearing after the Senate made moves to prevent a possible partial shutdown of the U.S. government. A deadline is looming at midnight for it.
Past shutdowns have not been a huge deal for financial markets, with investors pointing to how U.S. economic growth recovered after funding was restored. But any clearing of uncertainty can be helpful when so much of it has been sending the U.S. stock market on big, scary swings not just day to day but also hour to hour.
To be sure, the heaviest uncertainty remains with Trump’s escalating trade war. There, the question is how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.
While stock prices may soon finish their reset to account for tariffs that are set to hit in April, Ma said concerns about how big an impact cutbacks in federal spending will have on the economy are “likely to remain for some time.”
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainties created by Trump’s barrage of on -again, off -again tariff announcements and other policies. That’s raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy.
Worries look to be only worsening among U.S. households, according to a preliminary survey released Friday by the University of Michigan. Its measure of consumer sentiment sank for a third straight month, mostly because of concerns about the future rather than complaints about the present. The job market and overall economy look relatively solid at the moment.
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