S&P 500 closes 4th straight winning month

A late-afternoon rally helped stocks bounce back from an earlier slide. The S&P 500 rose 56.44 points, or 1%, to 5,648.

40 — with about 76% of the stocks in the index notching gains. The S&P closed August with a 2.3% gain for the month.



It's now up 18.4% so far this year and is within 0.4% of the all-time high it set in July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228.03 points, or 0.6%, to close at 41,563.

08, setting its fourth all-time high this week. The Nasdaq composite ended 197.19 points, or 1.

1%, higher at 17,713.62. Wall Street mulled over encouraging reports on inflation, consumer spending and income.

Data from various reports in August showed retail sales, employment and consumer confidence remain strong. The Commerce Department said Friday its personal consumption and expenditures report showed prices rose just 0.2% from June to July, up slightly from the prior month's 0.

1% increase.Compared with a year earlier, inflation was unchanged at 2.5%.

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, it was as high as 7.1% in the middle of 2022. The report confirms price increases are cooling, keeping the central bank on track to cut rates for the first time in more than four years at its meeting next month.

The report also showed Americans stepped up their spending by a vigorous 0.5% from June to July, up from 0.3% the previous month, and incomes rose 0.

3%, faster in July than in the prior month. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.92% from 3.

86% late Thursday. Technology stocks led the stock market. Marvell Technology climbed 9.

2% after its latest quarterly results hit Wall Street's sales and profit targets. Other chipmakers also rose. Broadcom added 3.

8% and Nvidia gained 1.5%. Dell also beat analysts' second-quarter forecasts, boosted by record server and networking revenue as companies continue to beef up their artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Its shares rose 4.3%. Mall-based cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty fell 4% after its sales and profit fell short of expectations.

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