—– The Dow closed higher, driven by lower inflation signals and rising US consumer confidence. This gave investors confidence that the bull market could continue as the S&P500 and Nasdaq closed higher for the fourth week in a row.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 33,761.05, up 424.38, or +1.27%.
The S&P 500 closed at 4,280.15 points, up 72.88 points, or +1.73%.
The Nasdaq closed at 13,047.19, up 267.27, or +2.09%.
—– Crude oil contracts closed lower on reports that the oil supply outage in the Gulf of Mexico may be short-lived.
WTI crude futures fell $2.25, or 2.4%, at $92.09 a barrel. but rose 3.5% this week.
BRENT crude futures fell $1.45, or 1.5%, at $98.15 a barrel, but were up 3.4% for the week.
—– Gold futures closed higher, rising for the fourth week in a row, supported by a decline in U.S. Treasury bond yields.
Gold futures rose $8.30, or 0.46%, to $1,815.50 an ounce and gained 1.3% for the week. This was the fourth straight week of growth, the longest streak since Dec. 31, 2021.
Silver futures were up 34.90 cents, or 1.72%, at $20.698 an ounce.
The platinum contract was held at $959.40 an ounce.
The palladium contract was down $69.00, or 3%, at $2,219.40 an ounce.
—– The U.S. dollar strengthened against a basket of major currencies after several Federal Reserve officials remained supportive of a rate hike. Despite signs that inflation has slowed.
The dollar index against the six major currencies in a basket of currencies rose 0.51% to 105.6310.
The dollar strengthened against the yen at 133.49 yen from 132.95 yen.
The dollar weakened against the Swiss franc to 0.9417 francs from 0.9419 francs.
The dollar strengthened against the Canadian dollar to 1.2777 Canadian dollars from 1.2760 Canadian dollars.
The euro was lower against the dollar at $1.0269 from $1.0327.
The pound weakened to $1.2141 from $1.2201.
The Australian dollar rose to $0.7129 from $0.107.