US Stocks End Higher, Shrugging Off Early Weakness

Wall Street stocks shrugged off early weakness on Friday to secure solid gains as markets try to pivot from a grim first half of 2022 dominated by inflation worries.

Equities spent much of the morning in the red, absorbing an industry survey showing slowing growth in the manufacturing sector.

But markets reversed course in the final hours of trading, rallying into a holiday weekend amid hopes for a better second half of the year.

Investors remain worried about a possible recession as the Federal Reserve aggressively tightens monetary policy in response to inflation. The S&P 500 suffered its worst first semester in a year since 1970.

The Dow Jones finished up 1.1 percent at 31,097.

The S&P 500 also climbed 1.1 percent to 3,825, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.9 percent to 11,127.

Among individual companies, Micron Technologies fell three percent after offering a disappointing forecast and noting that demand for its digital memory and storage products has "weakened."

Other chip companies also were under pressure, with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm all losing at least three percent.

Kohl's slumped nearly 20 percent after calling an end to merger talks with the Franchise Group, saying, "The current financing and retail environment created significant obstacles to reaching an acceptable and fully executable agreement."

Markets will be closed on Monday for the Independence Day holiday. (AFP)