NEW YORK — U.S. stocks ended back where they started Friday as the stock market wrapped up its best quarter in almost five years.
Health care companies did better than any part of the market during the third quarter, continuing to rise Friday.
Global banks fell and European stocks skidded after Italy’s new government announced a big increase in spending. Italy’s main stock index fell almost 4 percent as investors worried that the government’s plan will lead to a clash with European Union leaders who want Italy to reduce its debt level.
Through the third quarter, pain in other markets led to gains for U.S. stocks, and that was true Friday. The S&P 500 rose 7.2 percent, its biggest increase since the end of 2013.
One reason is that investors pivot to the U.S. when worried about other regions. The currencies of Turkey and Argentina both dropped during the quarter and investors worried that their currency and economic problems would harm the rest of the world.
The S&P 500 index inched down 0.02 points to 2,913.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.38 points, or 0.1 percent, to 26,458.31. The Nasdaq composite added 4.38 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 8,046.35. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 6.04 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,696.57.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.