: Stocks end higher Friday, Nasdaq scores best first half of a year since 1983

U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, ending the month strong and the first half of 2023 with robust gains as a long anticipated economic recession failed to materialize. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose about 283 points Friday, up 0.8%, ending near 34,405, according to preliminary FactSet data. It gained 4.6% in June and 3.8% in the last six months, its best first half since 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Stocks have been in rally mode in 2023 as inflation continued to retreat under a regime of sharply higher interest rates. The bullish tone, especially for a select few technology stocks, has endured even as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell repeatedly said a few more interest rates look likely this year, and that rates will likely stay high for awhile. Yet, the U.S. economy hasn’t tipped into a recession, suggesting the Fed might have room to pull off a “soft landing” for the economy, or at least only a mild recession, as it fights to bring down the cost of living to its 2% annual target. On Friday, the personal-consumption expenditures price index, a key inflation gauge, eased to a 3.8% annual rate in May, the slowest level since April 2021. Against that backdrop, the S&P 500 index SPX rose 1.2% Friday, 2.3% in June and 15.9% in the first half, its best start to a year since 2019. But the Nasdaq Composite Index was the standout, gaining 1.5% on Friday and 31.7% in the first half of 2023, which was its best first half since 1983, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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