Wall Street rallies to its best day in months, but that’s not enough to
salvage its losing week
[March 15, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rallied to their best day in months on
Friday as Wall Street’s roller coaster suddenly shot back upward. That
still wasn’t enough to keep the U.S. market from a fourth straight
losing week, its longest such streak since August.
The S&P 500 jumped 2.1% a day after closing more than 10% below its
record for its first “ correction ” since 2023. The last time the index
shot up that much was the day after President Donald Trump’s election,
when Wall Street was focusing on the upsides of Trump's return to the
White House.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 674 points, or 1.7%, and the
Nasdaq composite jumped 2.6%.
A multi-day “relief rally could be coming” after so much negativity
built among investors, said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO
Wealth Management. Swings in sentiment don’t go full-tilt in just one
direction forever, and the U.S. stock market has been tumbling quickly
since setting a record less than a month ago.
One piece of uncertainty hanging over Wall Street may be clearing after
the Senate made moves to prevent a possible partial shutdown of the U.S.
government.
Past shutdowns have not been a huge deal for financial markets. But any
reduction of uncertainty can be helpful when so much of it has been
sending the U.S. stock market on big, scary swings not just day to day
but also hour to hour.
To be sure, the heaviest uncertainty remains with Trump’s escalating
trade war. There, the question is how much pain Trump will let the
economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape
the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants
manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S.
government workforce and other fundamental changes.
While stock prices may be close to finishing their reset to account for
tariffs set to hit in April, Ma said concerns about how big an impact
cutbacks in federal spending will have on the economy are “likely to
remain for some time.”
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence
because of all the uncertainties created by Trump’s barrage of on
-again, off -again tariff announcements and other policies. That’s
raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the
economy.
Worries look to be only worsening among U.S. households, according to a
preliminary survey released Friday by the University of Michigan. Its
measure of consumer sentiment sank for a third straight month, mostly
because of concerns about the future rather than complaints about the
present. The job market and overall economy look relatively solid at the
moment.
“Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and
other economic factors,” according to Joanne Hsu, direct of the survey,
and “frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for
consumers to plan for the future, regardless of one’s policy
preferences.”
[to top of second column] |
A pair of traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange,
Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 Such fears have Wall Street focused
on whether companies are seeing the souring mood of consumers
translating into real pain for their businesses.
Ulta Beauty jumped 13.7% after the beauty products retailer reported
stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
The company’s forecasts for upcoming revenue and profit fell short
of analysts’ targets, but Chief Financial Officer Paula Oyibo said
it wanted to be cautious “as we navigate ongoing consumer
uncertainty.” Analysts said the forecasts appeared better than
feared.
Gains for Big Tech stocks and companies in the
artificial-intelligence industry also helped support the market.
Such stocks have been under the most pressure in the recent sell-off
after critics said their prices shot too high in the frenzy around
AI.
Nvidia rose 5.3% to trim its loss for 2025 so far below 10%. Apple
climbed 1.8% to pare its loss for the week, which at one point had
been on pace to be its worst since the 2020 COVID crash.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 117.42 points to 5,638.94. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average climbed 674.62 to 41,488.19, and the Nasdaq
composite rallied 451.07 to 17,754.09.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and
Asia.
Stocks jumped 2.1% in Hong Kong and 1.8% in Shanghai after China’s
National Financial Regulatory Administration issued a notice
ordering financial institutions to help develop consumer finance and
encourage use of credit cards, do more to aid borrowers who run into
trouble and be more transparent in their lending practices.
Economists say China needs consumers to spend more to get the
economy out of its doldrums, although most have advocated broader,
more fundamental reforms.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose to recover some of their
sharp recent losses. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to
4.31% from 4.27% late Thursday and from 4.16% at the start of last
week.
Yields have been swinging since January, when the 10-year yield was
approaching 4.80%. When worries worsen about the U.S. economy’s
strength, yields have fallen. When those worries lessen, or when
concerns about inflation rise, yields have climbed.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
