Investing.com – Wall Street surged on Friday as markets eased back from a volatile week of trading.
The S&P 500 was up 27 points or 1.08% to 2,607.72 as of 9:51 AM ET (14:51 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 250 points or 1.05% to 24,111.38, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was up 72 points or 1.16% to 6,861.04.
Markets ended Thursday in the red, as higher interest rates continued to weigh on sentiment. The Dow Jones industrial average finished the session down 1,032.89 points at 23,860.46.
Investor worry eased up on Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump signed a two-year budget agreement early in the day, after Congress passed a deal five and a half hours into a government shutdown. The agreement will boost federal spending by almost $300 billion and suspend the debt ceiling for a year.
Technology and financial stocks were among the biggest gainers after the morning bell. Tech firm NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) surged 4.02% after reporting record revenue increases in the last fiscal quarter. Meanwhile Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose 1.45% while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) gained 1.55% and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) was up 1.28%. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) inched up 0.98% while Visa Inc (NYSE:V) increased 1.64%.
Elsewhere travel firm Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) slumped 13.27% after forecasting a rise in expenses in 2018, while United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) was down 3.41% as it entered a 10-day losing streak amid investor concern over e-commerce. General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 0.76% and social media app Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) decreased 1.96%.
In Europe stocks were down. In Germany the DAX fell 41 points or 0.28% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 24 points or 0.46% and in London the FTSE 100 lost 20 points or 0.28%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was down 50 points or 0.52% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slumped five points or 0.17%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.24% to $1,315.90 a troy ounce while crude oil futures slumped 1.55% to $60.20 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.06% to 90.24.