Broad rally helps stocks end a choppy week slightly higher

Wall Street capped several days of choppy trading Friday with a broad rally that gave the stock market a modest gain for the week.

Technology companies, banks and health care stocks accounted for much of the market’s gains. Energy companies also rose along with crude oil prices.

The rally came as bond yields pulled back for the second day in a row after reaching four-year highs earlier in the week. That spike on Wednesday, which sent the 10-year Treasury yield closing in on 3 percent, sent stocks sharply lower.

“There was a lot of concern about what happened if bond yields got above 3 percent, and that probably added to some of the jitters earlier this week,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “Now you have a day when yields are moving away from that. At least for now, that probably lets equity traders breathe a sigh of relief and pushes stocks up a little.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 1.6 percent, to 2,747.30. The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 347.51 points, or 1.4 percent, to 25,309.99. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.8 percent, to 7,337.39. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 1.3 percent, to 1,549.19.

All told, the S&P 500 eked out a 0.6 percent gain for the week. The Dow and Nasdaq finished with gains of 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. — AP