Stocks end first day of third quarter with rebound

STORY: Wall Street started the second half of the year on a positive note, after the worst first half in decades, with the Dow and S&P 500 each rising more than a percent, and the Nasdaq climbing nearly a percent.

Economic data released Friday appeared to back the view that the economy is cooling and that inflation may be past its peak, raising the possibility that the Federal Reserve may not have to be as aggressive as some investors feared.

Scott Wren is senior market strategist at Wells Fargo's Investment Institute.

“I think the July 4th holiday in the (United) States on Monday has an effect today. Volume has been very low. It's been really low since late yesterday. So, people are trying to square up for the weekend. Those few people that are still, that are still sitting around on trading desks. And of course, when you see some news, like we saw this morning with the ISM (Institute for Supply Management) numbers, they were all lower than expected. That creates a little bit of volatility as well.”

Shares of market leaders Apple, Microsoft and Amazon all rose Friday, providing the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Facebook-owner Meta Platforms ended lower, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees the company cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year, and warned them to brace for a deep economic downturn.

Kohl's tumbled nearly 20% as the department store chain called off its sale to Franchise Group, following months of negotiations.

And Micron Technology dropped about 3% as the chipmaker predicted quarterly revenue below market expectations, triggering concerns the chip sector was turning toward a down cycle.