US stocks rally, shrugging off recent weakness
Wall Street stocks shrugged off the weakness of recent days to push higher Friday, led by tech shares following Netflix results and Federal Reserve comments signaling smaller interest rate hikes. The streaming giant reported lower quarterly profits, but Netflix shares surged 8.5 percent after subscriber figures topped analyst estimates, as hits such as "Wednesday" and "Harry & Meghan" drew in new viewers. Analysts also cited comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller endorsing a 25-basis point interest increase at the Fed's next meeting, smaller than other recent hikes. "After four or five days of down markets, investors probably feel that most of the bad news is already out and perhaps the selling was overdone," said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital. The Dow Jones finished up 1.0 percent at 33,375, the S&P 500 advanced 1.9 percent to 3,972, and the Nasdaq jumped 2.7 percent to 11,140. Data released on Friday showed that US existing home sales declined for the 11th straight month, contributing to the biggest annual drop since 2008 in the wake of higher lending rates. Among individual companies, Google parent Alphabet jumped 5.7 percent after announcing it will cut about 12,000 jobs globally in the latest downsizing by a tech giant. But Goldman Sachs shed 2.5 percent following a Wall Street Journal report that the Federal Reserve is probing the investment bank's consumer business. (AFP)