Alphabet and Microsoft help Wall Street clinch its best week in nearly 6 months

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Alphabet and Microsoft led the U.S. stock market to its first winning week in the last four and its biggest weekly gain since November. The S&P 500 rose 1% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2%. Treasury yields largely eased after a report on inflation for March came in close to expectations.

Google parent Alphabet leaped 10.2% after breezing past analysts’ expectations for profit last quarter. The company said it will start paying a dividend to investors and authorized a program to buy back up to $70 billion of its stock. Microsoft, meanwhile, climbed 1.8% after reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. It cited strong growth in its cloud-computing business as it pushes artificial-intelligence technology to its customers. They helped offset a 9.2% drop for Intel.

JPMorgan’s Dimon hopes for soft landing for US economy but he is ‘dubious’

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he’s hopeful the Federal Reserve can bring down inflation without causing a recession but wouldn’t rule out more troubling possibilities, such as stagflation.

“I’m just a little more dubious than others that a (soft landing) is a given,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press at a Chase branch opening in The Bronx

Dimon said he remained “cautious” about the U.S. economy and said inflation may be stickier for longer and that stagflation is on the list of possible things that could happen to the U.S. economy. Stagflation occurs when the economy is weak, or in recession, yet prices keep moving higher. Dimon also reiterated his support for an independent Federal Reserve.