Investing.com – U.S. equities closed modestly higher on Friday, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signalled that U.S. central bank may increase interest rates at its next meeting later this month.
U.S. equities started the session in negativity territory, as a mixed bag of economic data failed to have a major impact on market moves while Janet Yellen’s speech provided the impetus for a late recovery as all three major U.S. indexes ended the week in the positive.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday, she expected a gradual increase in interest rates this year and hinted that should U.S. economic data come in as expected, then further monetary tightening "would likely be appropriate" at the Fed's next policy meeting on 14-15 March.
“At our meeting later this month, the committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate,” Ms. Yellen said.
Fed Chair Yellen struck a similar tone to that of several Fed officials over the past few days, who indicated that tighter monetary policy may be coming soon, should the U.S. economy continue to show robust growth.
On the economic data front, services PMI missed expectations while the ISM non-manufacturing index revealed a 57.6 reading for February. Economists expected a services PMI print of 53.9.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 21,005.71 The S&P 500 gained 0.05% and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.16% higher at 5,870.75.
In corporate news, Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) tacked on 10.66% to close at $27.09, following its market debut a day earlier.
The top S&P 500 gainers included Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) up 3.4%, and Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN) up 2.9%, while United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) added 2.9%.
Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) down 4.5%, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) down 4.2% and Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) slumped 3.7%, were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.