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Stocks rose on Friday, boosted by strong U.S. retail sales data as Wall Street tried to snap a three-day losing streak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 234.09 points to pause for lunch at 28,728.29.
The S&P 500 hiked 16.64 points to 3,499.98.
The NASDAQ remained buoyant 33.42 points to 11,747.29.
The market also got a boost after Pfizer said it would apply for emergency use of its coronavirus vaccine as soon as it reaches certain safety milestones that it expects to have in late November. Meanwhile, Europe’s aviation regulator said Boeing’s 737 Max jet is safe to fly again. Boeing shares rose 5%.
Wall Street was coming off its third consecutive daily decline amid uncertainty around further coronavirus stimulus as well as fears of a worsening pandemic around the world.
The major averages suffered their third straight day of losses on Thursday, their longest losing streak in nearly a month.
Lawmakers in Washington continued to send mix signals about progress toward a stimulus deal. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that the White House won’t let differences over funding targets for Covid-19 testing derail stimulus talks with top Democrats.
Later, President Donald Trump said that he would raise his offer for a stimulus package above his current level of $1.8 trillion. House Democrats have passed a $2.2-trillion bill.
Figures released Friday by the U.S. Commerce Department revealed that retail sales jumped 1.9% in September, easily topping a Dow Jones estimate of 0.7%. Excluding autos, sales were up 1.5%. That’s also better than a 0.4% estimate.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury lost ground, lifting yields to 0.75% from Thursday’s 0.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were down 20 cents at $40.76 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gave up $4.10 to $1,904.80
