Investing.com-- The S&P 500 climbed Friday, ending a volatile week higher, shrugging off increasing U.S.-China trade tensions and fresh signs of worry about the U.S. consumer as well as the inflation outlook.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures}} rose 619 points, or 1.6%, the S&P 500 index rose 1.7% and the NASDAQ Composite added 2.1%.
Michigan sentiment survey falls to second lowest on record
The April consumer sentiment survey from the University of Michigan fell 11% in March to a reading of 50.8 in March, the second lowest level since records began as tariff uncertainty continued to weigh.
The closely-watched barometer of household confidence plunged in March as Americans fretted over the impact of Trump’s tariffs on their personal finances, business conditions, and unemployment.
At the same time, consumer inflation expectations soared, with the University of Michigan report for March showing that long-run price growth projections were above 4% "in light of frequent developments and changes with economic policy."
On the ’Fed talk’ front, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said the U.S. central bank was "absolutely" ready to help stabilize markets if needed.
30-Year Treasury yield slips, volatility eases
The 30-year Treasury yield, which has beenclosely watched for signs of panic over tariffs, fell to 4.836% easing fears that investors would resume selling U.S. debt on concerns about a trade-war hit to the economy.
Falling yields in the long bond yields come even as U.S-China trade relations were further soured after China retaliated to recently imposed U.S. tariffs by lifting its import tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.
The duty is an increase from 84% announced by Beijing on Wednesday, and is the latest escalation in an intensifying trade war between the U.S. and China. It will take effect from Saturday, Beijing said.
Beijing also indicated that it won’t respond to more U.S. levies.
In sign that the market panic has subsided for the moment, the S&P 500 VIX Futures , or so-called fear index fell after jumping above 50 earlier this week.
Banks lead off Q1 earnings season; Tesla falls
Of interest were first-quarter earnings from some of the country’s largest banks, often seen as the unofficial start of the quarterly earnings season.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS ) beat expectations with their earnings for the first three months, but they all struck a note of caution on the broader economy.
BlackRock (NYSE: BLK ) stock fell slightly even after the world’s largest money manager’s assets under management increased to a record high in the first quarter.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) closed more than 4% higher, ending the week higher as investors swooped in after the recent selloff.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ) closed roughly unchanged after the EV maker halting Model S and Model X orders in China amid ongoing tariff turmoil.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)