Investing.com — The S&P 500 closed Friday, led by tech, as the recovery in stocks continued following a major selloff earlier this week when concerns about an incoming recession took center stage.
At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), the rose 51 points, or 0.1%, the index climbed 0.5%, and the gained 0.5%. On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 3%, marking its worst day since 2022 as the fallout from weaker July payrolls data triggered recession fears, which eased as the week progressed amid upbeat incoming economic data.
CPI data looms after volatile week
Wall Street has few major cues left to trade on as the week draws to a close, and thus focus is now turning to key inflation data due next week.
The reading comes amid increased conviction that U.S. inflation is easing and will give the Federal Reserve enough confidence to begin cutting interest rates from September.
Recent fears of a recession saw traders bet that the will cut rates by an outsized 50 basis points next month, compared to earlier expectations for a 25 basis point cut, showed.
Paramount Global surges after announcing job cuts
There are little in the way of major corporate earnings due Friday, but a number of companies released numbers after the close Thursday for investors to digest.
Paramount Global (NASDAQ:) stock rose 0.9% after the entertainment company beat Wall Street’s profit expectations and its streaming business reported its first quarterly profit in three years, while announcing it would cut 15% of its U.S. workforce as it attempts to cut costs.
“TV Media faces a tough 3Q but sports/political/licensing should help in 4Q,” UBS said in a recent note.
Expedia (NASDAQ:) stock surged over 10% after the online travel company beat quarterly expectations even after it warned of a softening in travel demand in July.
By contrast, Array Technologies (NASDAQ:) slid over 19% after the solar energy technology maker lowered its annual guidance.
ELF Beauty (NYSE:) stock slipped over 21% after the cosmetics company issued cautious guidance even as it raised annual sales and profit forecasts after topping first-quarter estimates.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)