NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average had its second-best week of the year.
On Friday, the index got a boost from two economic reports, one showing that inflation remained tame in August and the other showing Americans spent more.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,376. The index could close up 3 percent this week, the best five-day performance since Jan. 4.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose four points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,688. The Nasdaq composite index was up five points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,722. The S&P is on pace for its best week since July.
Traders had a few economic reports to work through. The Commerce Department said Americans increased their spending modestly in August, roughly 0.2 percent, half of what economists expected.
Trading was light as Wall Street headed into the weekend and the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur starts at sundown. About 2.8 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange by the early afternoon, versus the 6.5 billion traded on an average day.
Investors waited for the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Sept. 17-18, when the central bank is expected to decide the future of its bond-buying program.
“There’s a lot of ‘wait and see’ going on until the Fed meeting next week,” said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities.
The Fed is buying $85 billion in bonds each month, and the consensus among investors is that the central bank will decide to reduce its buying to about $75 billion or $80 billion a month.
September has been very strong for stocks so far. The Dow is up 3.8 percent and the S&P 500 has gained 3.4 percent.
