Wall Street rallies; Dow jumps 600 to make a dreary February not so bad

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rallied on Friday to close out their dreary February on a brighter note.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.6% to trim its loss for February, enough to make it the worst month only since December instead of since April. It had dropped in five of the prior six days after weaker-than-expected reports on the economy and worries about President Trump’s tariffs knocked the index off its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6%.

Much of the recent damage had focused on the market’s biggest winners of recent years, whose momentum had seemed nearly impossible to stop at times. Stocks that flew in the frenzy around artificial intelligence technology slumped sharply, for example. Bitcoin, meanwhile, dropped more than 20% from its record.

Many of those beaten-down areas of the market jumped Friday, recovering some of their losses. Nvidia, which has become one of the market’s most influential stocks, rose 3.9% after its 8.5% tumble Thursday and was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500. Even bitcoin bounced back above $84,000 after falling below $79,000 during the morning.

Stocks rose after an economic report released in the morning that included both encouraging and discouraging trends.

Inflation across the country decelerated a bit and behaved pretty much exactly as economists expected, according to the measure that the Federal Reserve prefers to use. That’s good news for the entire market because it could give the Federal Reserve leeway to continue cutting its main interest rate at some point later this year.

That, in turn, could help goose the economy. The Fed has been keeping rates on hold so far this year after cutting them sharply late last year, in large part because of concerns about potentially stubborn inflation.

But Friday’s report also said that U.S. households pulled back on their spending during January. That’s dangerous because their strong spending has been a major reason the U.S. economy has avoided a recession despite high interest rates.

U.S. consumers had already given big hints they’re under pressure and worried. Inflation is still high, even if it’s not as bad as its peak from 2022, and a widespread worry is that tariffs announced by Trump could push the cost of living even higher.

Wall Street hopes that all the talk about tariffs is merely a tool Trump is using to negotiate with other countries and that he’ll ultimately pull back on them, which would mean less pain for the global economy than initially feared.

But recent reports have nevertheless shown that Trump’s talk has already pushed U.S. consumers to brace for much higher inflation in the future. At some point, such worries could drive their behavior, which could drag on the economy even without tariffs.

All the uncertainty around not only tariffs but also deregulation and other potential moves could mean “if the market doesn’t see Trump moving towards more market-friendly policies, the level of trust could continue eroding,” Bank of America economists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.

Of course, much of January’s drop in spending by U.S. households could have been the simple result of painfully cold weather around the country and other anomalies. But it also followed several signals of slowing growth for the U.S. economy, which closed 2024 running at a solid pace.

Most stocks within the S&P 500 rose on Friday, led by AES after the energy company reported profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. Chief Executive Andrés Gluski also said the company is seeing strong demand from AI data centers and new U.S. manufacturing plants. AES stock jumped 11.6%.

Signet Jewelers rose 5.2% after an investment firm, Select Equity Group, amassed a nearly 10% ownership stake in the retailer and said it’s pushing the board to sell the company or find another way to boost its stock price.

The gains helped offset a 4.7% drop for Dell, which reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected but fell short on its revenue.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 92.93 points to 5,954.50. The Dow grew 601.41 points to 43,840.91, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 302.86 points to 18,847.28.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank again after the data on consumer spending and inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.20% from 4.26% late Thursday. It’s down sharply from last month, when it was approaching 4.80%, as worries have grown about where the U.S. economy is heading.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell sharply in Asia as worries about tariffs continued.

China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Friday protesting Trump’s decision to double tariffs on Chinese products to 20%, saying it violated international trade rules and would add to the “burden on American companies and consumers and undermine the stability of the global industrial chain.”

Indexes tumbled 3.3% in Hong Kong, 2% in Shanghai, 3.4% in Seoul and 2.9% in Tokyo.

Choe writes for the Associated Press.