Stocks ended higher Thursday, extending their weekly gains, a day after the Federal Reserve increased its policy rates for the first time since 2018 and kicked off a new era of tighter financial conditions to help combat inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 416 points Thursday, or 1.2%, ending near 34,479. That put the blue-chip index up for its 4th day in a row, despite volatile trading sparked earlier in the week by concerns about potential aftershocks of the pandemic saddling the economy with stagnating growth and persistently high inflation, particularly with commodities shooting higher with the war in Ukraine. The S&P 500 index rose 1.2% Thursday, with its energy segment up the most at 3.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index [s:comp] gained 1.3%. For the week so far, the Dow was up 4.7%; S&P 500 was advancing 4.9%; the Nasdaq by 6%, according to FactSet.
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