A big comeback Friday for stocks left the S&P 500 index SPX, +2.43%, Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.65% and Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +3.13% with sizable gains on the session and enough upward momentum to leave all three key U.S. stock benchmarks in the green in a week of extreme volatility on Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose 1.7% Friday and about 1.3% for the week, while the Dow advanced 2.4% on the session and 0.8% for the week. The Nasdaq shot 3.1% higher in a strong late-day rally Friday, leaving it flat on the week, and still in correction territory, defined as a drop of at least 10% from its last record close. Despite Friday’s upswing for equities, it still looks to be a punishing month of January for stocks, as investors prepare for the Federal Reserve to potentially hike rates for the first time since 2018 in March, and thereafter start to rein in its near $9 trillion balance sheet.
