Market Direction Weekly Closing Numbers

The economy

Wall Street rallied on Friday, led by tech stocks on the back of Applied Materials' strong profit forecast, ending a volatile week on a positive note.

The S&P 500 eked out gains for the week after three straight weeks of losses, while the Nasdaq snapped a four-week losing streak. Despite gains on Friday, the Dow ended its fourth consecutive week in the red.

Comments from several Federal Reserve officials suggested that a rate hike in June is within the realm of possibilities while the FOMC Minutes from the April meeting reinforced that idea. Traders now give a 30-percent chance of a rate hike at the Fed's June meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool, about twice as high as they expected on Tuesday.

According to the Minutes, "Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflation marking progress toward the Committee's 2.0% objective, then it would likely be appropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federal funds rate in June."

As for inflation, the April CPI report that was released on Tuesday showed hotter-than-expected headline inflation (+0.4%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) while core CPI increased an in-line 0.2%.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,447 to 580, for a 4.22-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 2,151 issues rose and 667 fell for a 3.22-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 31 new lows.

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By the numbers the weekly closing index numbers compared to the initial sign-up and subscribe recommendation closing numbers: 

Stock Market Closing Numbers
compared to Recommendation Numbers
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Nasdaq	?	?	?
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