U.S. stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, but the three major indexes still posted their a round of weekly losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA added about 169 points, or 0.8%, ending near 33,869, while booking a 0.2% weekly decline, according to preliminary FactSet data. The S&P 500 index SPX advanced 0.2% Friday and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP closed 0.6% lower. They fell 1.1% and 2.4% for the week, respectively. That snapped the rate-sensitive Nasdaq’s string of 5 straight weeks of gains, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Investor optimism around the Federal Reserve nearing the end of its rate hiking cycle helped push stocks higher to kick off the year, but bullishness has since eased with corporate earnings sagging and Fed officials warning that rates could stay high for some time. Despite the bite of higher interest rates, U.S. consumer sentiment data for February released on Friday signaled a cautious optimism about the economy. Another signal, the U.S. Treasury market yield curve, however, continued to warn about the potential for a U.S. recession, with the 2-year Treasury rate BX:TMUBMUSD02Y at about 4.5% on Friday and the 10-year Treasury BX:TMUBMUSD10Y at 3.7%, a deep inversion of the two rates that has often appeared before downturns in the past.
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