NEW YORK, April 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, fueled by strong earnings from major tech companies, and traders closely analyzed newly released U.S. inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.86 points, or 0.40 percent, to 38,239.66. The S&P 500 added 51.54 points, or 1.02 percent, to 5,099.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 316.14 points, or 2.03 percent, to 15,927.9.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with communication services and technology leading the gainers by going up 4.70 percent and 1.85 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, utilities and energy led the laggards by dropping 1.12 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively.
The stock market received a lift from strong performances by artificial intelligence rivals Alphabet and Microsoft.
Alphabet surged over 10 percent due to impressive first-quarter earnings, marking its best day since July 2015, alongside authorizing its inaugural dividend and a 70 billion U.S. dollars buyback, while Microsoft gained 1.82 percent following robust fiscal third-quarter results and notable acceleration in cloud growth.
"We are finishing a volatile week on a strong note," said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. "It's nice to see some green on the screen. Clearly one of the drivers has been the stellar reports coming out of megacap technology."
The U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy, rose by 2.8 percent in March compared to the previous year, remaining consistent with February's figures, while the all-items PCE price index, including food and energy, grew by 2.7 percent, slightly higher than the estimate.
"Inflation reports released this morning were not as a hot as feared, but investors should not get overly anchored to the idea that inflation has been completely cured and the Fed will be cutting interest rates in the near-term," said George Mateyo, chief investment officer at Key Wealth. "The prospects of rate cuts remain, but they are not assured, and the Fed will likely need weakness in the labor market before they have the confidence to cut."
The Fed has a policymaking meeting next week, and central bankers are widely expected to stay the course and keep rates where they are until clearer progress is being made.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Sentiment Index released by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers on Friday fell to 77.2 from 79.4 in March. According to the survey, Americans think inflation will average 3.2 percent in the next year, which is the highest rate since last November. ■
