US equities end week on positive note

Stocks on the Wall Street moved sharply higher during trading on Friday with major averages showing strong moves to the upside and the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 bouncing off their lowest closing levels in over a month. The Dow surged 654.27 points or 1.6 percent to 40,589.34, the Nasdaq shot up 176.16 points or 1.0 percent to 17,357.88 and the S&P 500 jumped 59.88 points or 1.1 percent to 5,459.10. For the week, the Dow advanced by 0.8 percent, but the S&P 500 slid by 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq slumped by 2.1 percent. All sectors posted gains, led by industrials as 3M soared 23.1%, marking its best day since at least 1972. Investors are preparing for next week's quarterly earnings reports from four of the Magnificent Seven tech giants: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.