Before Long Weekend, Stocks 'in a Bit of a Hold'

Stock indexes will head into the long weekend on a bit of a choppy note. The Dow fell 8 points to 24,465, while the S&P 500 rose 6 points to 2,955, and the Nasdaq gained 39 points to 9,324. Earlier in the day, the numbers were much worse. After mounting a strong rebound in April, stocks have bounced around this week as traders look for signs pointing to the market’s direction, per the AP. “We’re in a bit of a hold right now looking for the next catalyst,” said Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco. "There’s still an awful lot of uncertainty we have to work though.”

The up-and-down trading on Wall Street followed a downbeat day in Asia. Hong Kong’s main index dropped 5.6% after China made more moves to limit political opposition in the former British colony. Beijing also abandoned its longstanding practice of setting economic growth targets. European markets shook off some early weakness and ended mixed. Fresh hopes for a US economic recovery in the second half of the year and optimism about a potential vaccine for COVID-19 helped spur stocks higher for much of the week. Investors are betting that the economy and corporate profits will begin to recover from the coronavirus pandemic as the US and countries around the world slowly open up again.

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