Wall Street Caps Weird Week With Record Closes

Wall Street's week started with the biggest single-day plunge of the year. It ended with record highs. The Dow rose 238 points to 35,061, the S&P 500 rose 44 points to 4,411, and the Nasdaq rose 152 points to 14,836. The latter two were increases of 1%, while the Dow came in under that. But all three were record-high closes, reports CNBC. Monday's drop was caused by worries about a potentially sharp slowdown in the economy due to a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus, per the AP. But the S&P 500 has since climbed four straight days, as big companies reported better profits than expected and as investors once again saw any dip in stocks as merely a chance to buy low

The economy continues to recover at a torrid pace, with the question being how much growth will slow in upcoming months and years. A preliminary report from IHS Markit on Friday indicated US manufacturing growth may be unexpectedly accelerating in July, though growth in services industries looks to be slowing more than economists expected. The yield on the 10-year Treasury gave up some of its gain following the release of the report, but it still rose to 1.28% from 1.26% late Thursday. For months, it has been sending an alarm of concern about the economy as it dropped from a perch of roughly 1.75% in late March.

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