Business

USA equities post modest weekly gains

US stocks eked out modest weekly gains as investors digested a slew of key economic data while grappling with fears

Sentinel Digital Desk

New York: US stocks eked out modest weekly gains as investors digested a slew of key economic data while grappling with fears of a resurgence in coronavirus infections across the country.

For the week ending Friday, the Dow rose 1 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.9 per cent and the Nasdaq climbed 3.7 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The S&P US Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on US exchanges by total market cap, logged a weekly advance of 7 percent.

High volatility returned to Wall Street as many investors were still skeptical as to when and if the markets would recover.

A spike in new coronavirus cases in several US states has raised questions about a swift economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 2.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 119,000 deaths, as of Saturday afternoon, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

"The volatile stock market, record unemployment, and uncertainty about the future are all driving investor fear and panic," analysts at Zacks Investment Management said in a note.

Market sentiment was somewhat mixed as the week featured a disappointing US weekly jobless report and better-than-anticipated May retail sales data. (IANS)