The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Friday as Wall Street pushed for solid gains during the holiday-shortened trading week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 155 points, or 0.45%. The S&P 500 gained 0.09% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.35%, weighed down by shares of Activision Blizzard, which fell nearly 4% on news that the FTC could block Microsoft from taking over the gaming company.
Worries about continued lockdowns in China kept markets in check. The country is ramping up Covid restrictions after seeing climbing case counts in recent days. Earlier in the week, China reported its first Covid deaths since May.
Wall Street looks set to close out an upbeat holiday-shortened week, after the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes added to expectations that monetary policy tightening may slow down.
“A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” the minutes stated.
Stocks jumped on the news Wednesday, notching the second consecutive day of gains in a week marked by choppy trading and low volumes. For the week, the Dow is up 1.75% and the S&P 500 is up 1.66%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is lagging the other two indices but is still up nearly 1% on the week.
Markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.