Wall Street climbs at end of turbulent week

(Reuters) – Hopes of more official stimulus for the economy and the easing of a bond market rally drove a broad rise in U.S. stocks on Friday, as a bruising week for markets drew to a close.

Wall Street’s three main indexes are down at least 1.5% since last Friday, on track to rack up their third consecutive week of losses, as investors worried about the risk of recession and U.S.-China trade tensions.

China’s state planner said overnight that it would roll out a plan to boost disposable income this year and in 2020 to spur consumption as the economy slows.

Investors are also expecting further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and moves by the European Central Bank next month to fight softening growth.

“We haven’t seen any major headlines on trade war today and that is giving the market some relief. The move back up on yields is also releasing the pressure on equity markets,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

“It is sort of a relief rally and perhaps some bargain hunting since a lot of stocks have been really decimated during this recent decline.”

Among stocks, Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) jumped 8.3% after posting better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, lifting the Philadelphia chip index .SOX by 2.23%.

The S&P 500 bank sub-sector .SPXBK rose 0.98% as rate-sensitive lenders benefited from U.S. Treasury bond yields easing off their lows. [US/]

At 9:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 163.62 points, or 0.64%, at 25,743.01 and the S&P 500 .SPX was up 23.56 points, or 0.83%, at 2,871.16. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 83.03 points, or 1.07%, at 7,849.65.

All of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with technology stocks .SPLRCT providing the biggest boost.

Sectors seen as bond proxies due to their high dividend yields – real estate .SPLRCR and utilities .SPLRCU – posted small gains.

The so-called FAANG group – which includes Facebook Inc (FB.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Apple (AAPL.O), Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) and Google-parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) – gained between 0.6% and 1%.

General Electric Co (GE.N) jumped 6.2% as Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp bought nearly $2 million worth of shares a day after recording their biggest one-day percentage fall in 11 years.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.87-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 4.32-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 15 new highs and 25 new lows.