U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Dow both ending a choppy week with losses, as concerns reared back up about how quickly the Federal Reserve might need to hikes rates to cool stubbornly high inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose about 130 points on Friday, or 0.4%, ending near 33,826, while posting a 0.1% weekly drop, according to preliminary data from FactSet. The S&P 500 index SPX shed 0.3% Friday and lost 0.3% for the week, posting back-to-back weekly declines. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP fell 0.6% Friday, but a 0.6% weekly gain. The backdrop for stocks has gotten cloudier in recent sessions as surging wholesale prices signaled that inflation could continue to be slow to retreat in the U.S. Several Fed speakers this week also pointed anxiously to inflation that isn’t retreating fast enough, triggering concern in markets that the Fed might need to fire off more rate hikes and keep them in restrictive territory for longer than initially anticipated.
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