Dow closes more than 150 points. Stocks make gains for the holiday week

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Friday, posting gains during the holiday-shortened trading week.

The Dow Jones rose 152.97 points, or 0.45%, to 34,347.03 points, marking the third consecutive session of gains. The S&P 500 fell by 0.03%, ending the day at 4,026.12. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.52% to 11,226.36, weighed down by Activision Blizzard shares, which fell 4% on news that The FTC could prevent Microsoft from taking over the gaming company.

The three indices ended the week higher. The Dow Jones rose 1.78%, and the S&P rose 1.53% during the short week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lags behind the other two indices but is still up 0.72% in the same time frame.

Stocks were muted at the start of the week as traders waited minutes for the November Federal Reserve meeting. The minutes showed that the central bank expects the pace of interest rate hikes to slow down in the future, giving stocks a boost into the weekend even amid volatile sessions due to lower trading volumes.

“A large majority of participants felt that a slower pace of increase would likely be appropriate soon,” the minutes said.

A series of strong retail earnings reports pointing to some consumer strength even amid fears of economic weakness also sent stocks higher.

Concerns about continued lockdowns in China kept the markets in check. The country is ramping up Covid restrictions after seeing case numbers climb in recent days. Earlier in the week, China It reported its first Covid death since May.

Next week, investors will be watching more earnings reports from companies like Kroger and Ulta Beauty on deck. On the economic front, traders will be watching for further comments from Federal Reserve officials, as well as the release on Thursday of the Personal Consumption Expenditure report – the central bank’s preferred inflation indicator. Jobs for November are scheduled to be printed on Friday.