US stocks close higher amid fading recession fears

New York, Aug 17: US stocks closed higher, wrapping up the week in a positive note, as the market was mildly buoyed by easing US bond market and a batch of mixed economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 306.62 points, or 1.20 per cent, to 25,886.01 on Friday, Xinhua reported. The S&P 500 increased 41.08 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 2,888.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 129.38 points, or 1.67 per cent, to 7,895.99.

All of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around market close, with the industrials sector up over 1.9 per cent, leading the gainers.

All of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow extended gains, with shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance and JPMorgan Chase up 2.41 per cent and over 2.40 per cent respectively, among the best performers.

Shares of Nvidia rose 7.25 per cent, after the US tech giant reported second-quarter earnings that exceeded market estimates, owing to demand for specific graphics chips for video games.

The yields of 10-year and 30-year US treasury notes have been on the rise throughout Friday, bouncing back from the deep losses of the previous days, which alleviated investors' worries over a potential recession.

The yield of the 10-year note rose to over 1.56 per cent, widening its gap with the contracting yield of the 2-year note, which hit over 1.49 per cent around market close.

Meanwhile, Wall Street digested a slew of mixed data since Thursday, among which reports of strong consumer spending in July gave the market an in-time backup.

On the economic front, US consumer sentiment declined in early August to 92.1, marking its lowest level since the start of the year, according to the University of Michigan's survey of consumers released on Friday.

"Monetary and trade policies have heightened consumer uncertainty, but not pessimism, about their future financial prospects," said the survey, adding that consumers strongly reacted to the proposed September increase in tariffs on Chinese imports.

Yet US consumer spending has remained robust, as retail and food services sales rose 0.7 per cent to US $523.5 billion in July, following an increase of 0.3 per cent in June, said US Census Bureau on Thursday.

Such gains were shown in various sectors last month, including online retail, grocery stores, clothing retail and electronics and appliance stores.