Stocks Rise, on Track for Weekly Gains

U.S. stocks rallied Friday, putting major indexes on track for weekly gains after a string of strong earnings reports bolstered investor confidence following a bout of market volatility.

The S&P 500 climbed 1%, pushing the broad market gauge to a 1.9% jump for the week, despite the steep fall that U.S. stocks suffered on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 200 points, or 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1%.

All three indexes are on pace to close at new all-time highs, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average expected to finish above 35000, a new milestone, for the first time.

The monthslong rally in stocks has resumed after markets skidded at the start of the week in response to concerns about the fast-spreading Delta variant. Investors have drawn comfort from rapid earnings growth at the biggest American companies. Money managers also say governments in the U.S. and Europe are unlikely to bring in lockdowns that restrict growth, even if rising cases take the shine off the economic recovery.

“You have an earnings season that is going tremendously well,” said Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors . The economic outlook isn’t as strong as it was three months ago, but “the path ahead is not that negative and certainly there is a lot of buying the dip,” she added.