Stocks rise broadly on gains from retailers including Macy's

A U.S. flag waves outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in New York. Stocks were moving between small gains and losses in early trading Wednesday, May 25, on Wall Street, keeping most of the major indexes in the green for the week so far. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

A woman wearing a face mask walks past a bank's electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index in Hong Kong, Thursday, May 26, 2022. Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after notes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting confirmed expectations for more interest rate hikes but contained no surprises to rattle investors. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A man wearing a face mask walks past a bank's electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index in Hong Kong, Thursday, May 26, 2022. Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after notes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting confirmed expectations for more interest rate hikes but contained no surprises to rattle investors. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A man wearing a face mask walks past a bank's electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index in Hong Kong, Thursday, May 26, 2022. Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after notes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting confirmed expectations for more interest rate hikes but contained no surprises to rattle investors. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A woman wearing a face mask walks past a bank's electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index in Hong Kong, Thursday, May 26, 2022. Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after notes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting confirmed expectations for more interest rate hikes but contained no surprises to rattle investors. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The New York Stock Exchange operates during normal business hours in the Financial District, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, in the Manhattan borough of New York. Stocks are opening solidly in the green on Wall Street, Thursday, May 26, 2022, as investors applaud a strong set of quarterly results from Macy's and other retailers. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose broadly in afternoon trading on Wall Street Thursday as investors cheered a strong set of quarterly results from Macy's and other retailers.

The S&P 500 rose 1.8% as of 3:27 p.m. Eastern and is solidly in the green for the week following a choppy few days of trading. The benchmark index is coming off seven straight weekly losses, its longest such stretch since 2001.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 509 points, or 1.6%, to 32,630 and the Nasdaq rose 2.4%. Smaller company stocks also made strong gains, a sign of bullishness on the economy. The Russell 2000 index rose 2.4%.

Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set interest rates on mortgages, rose to 2.75% from 2.74% late Wednesday.

Retailers led the broader market higher. Macy's surged 18% after it raised its profit forecast for the year following a strong first-quarter financial report. Dollar General vaulted 13.9% and Dollar Tree jumped 21% after the discount retailers reported solid earnings and gave investors encouraging forecasts.

The retail sector is being closely watched by investors looking for more details on just how much pain inflation is inflicting on companies and consumers. Weak reports from the several big companies last week, including Target and Walmart, spooked an already volatile market.

“We’re not convinced that we’re completely out of the woods here,” said Philip Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Hermes. “There were a lot of negative reports last week and what those companies have talked about is what is going on through the economy."

Inflation is at a four-decade high and businesses have been raising costs on everything from food to clothing to offset higher costs. The impact from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine worsened inflation pressures by fueling higher energy and key food commodity costs. Supply chain problems worsened in the wake of China’s lockdown for several major cities as it tried to contain COVID-19 cases.

Consumers have been resilient about spending, but the pressure from inflation remains persistent and could be prompting a pullback or shift in spending from more expensive things to necessities.

The broad gains on Thursday follow a late push for markets on Wednesday prompted by details from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting, which confirmed expectations of more interest rate hikes.

Investors have been uneasy over the impact of interest rate hikes in the United States and other Western economies that are meant to cool surging inflation. The key concern is whether the Fed can temper inflation with aggressive interest rate hikes without crimping economic growth to the point that the U.S. falls into a recession.

“The Fed's got to be really aggressive here and job number one is to stuff the inflation genie back in the bottle and I don’t believe the market has fully priced that in,” Orlando said.

Technology stocks also did much of the heavy lifting. TurboTax maker Intuit rose 4.1%. Companies in the sector, with their lofty stock values, tend to push the market harder up or down.

Airline stocks rallied on encouraging summer travel forecasts. Southwest Airlines rose 6.3% and JetBlue rose 3.6%.

U.S. crude oil prices rose 3.4% and are up more than 55% for the year.

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Veiga reported from Los Angeles.

Companies Mentioned in This Article

How should you be investing in 2022? It's a near certainty that the Fed will continue to pursue a more hawkish monetary policy for the rest of 2022. And right now the market is expecting interest rate increases to start in March 2022.

The thought that the Fed will take aggressive measures to combat inflation is still weighing on growth-minded investors? After all, stocks still look like the place to be.

If you're an investor looking to maximize your growth this year, you should first make sure you have a base of blue-chip stocks. These stocks can deliver solid returns no matter how the broader market goes. However, after that, you should still have your eyes on growth. And mid-cap stocks may be just the place to look.

Mid-cap stocks are defined by companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion. These companies are still in the growth phase so they're putting their profits to work in growing their business.

The recent market sell-off has put many of these stocks at attractive points. And while many of them still don't qualify as oversold by technical measures, they are offering significant upside at their current price points.

At some point the Fed is likely to get serious about whipping inflation. When it does, investors will become even more selective than they already are. By investing in these mid-cap stocks, you can stay one step ahead of whatever comes next.