Stocks racked up more gains Friday as Wall Street closed out its best month since November 2020, a welcome breather for investors after a punishing year for the market. The S&P 500 index, a benchmark for many stock funds, rose 1.4% and finished 9.1% higher for July. A rebound in technology stocks, big retailers and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending helped power the index’s broad gains this month. The index is still down 13.3% for the year.
On Friday:
The S&P 500 rose 57.86 points, or 1.4%, to 4,130.29.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 315.50 points, or 1%, to 32,845.13.
The Nasdaq rose 228.09 points, or 1.9%, to 12,390.69.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.20, or 0.7%, to 1,885.23.
For the week:
The S&P 500 closed up 168.66 points, or 4.3%.
The Dow is up 945.84 points, or 3%.
The Nasdaq is up 556.58, or 4.7%.
The Russell 200 is up 78.35 points, or 4.3%.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is down 635.89 points, or 13.3%.
The Dow is down 3,493.17 points, or 9.6%.
The Nasdaq is down 3,254.28 points, or 20.8%.
The Russell 2000 is down 360.08 points, or 16%.
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