us stocks traded higher on friday as all three major us indexes headed for another strong weekly gain with the nasdaq on track to climb for a fourth straight week what would be its longest such streak since august on thursday the dow jones industrial average rose more than 200 points on thursday as stocks advanced following tesla incs wednesday evening earnings report and the q1 gross domestic product numbers released thursday morning the dow and sp 500 are on track for their third weekly advance in four weeks the sp 500 has climbed more than 15 from its october lows after whipsawing between marginal gains and losses following the release of fridays marquee economic data stocks stabilized and moved higher after the open as traders celebrated more evidence of slowing inflation while looking past fresh signs of a weakening consumer the pce index showed core inflation which strips out volatile food and energy prices rose 44 yearoveryear in december bringing the average rate for the fourth quarter to 47 slightly below the 48 increase forecast by the federal reserve in a set of economic projections released last month seeinflation rate slows again to 15month low pce shows as us economy weakens the data also showed that consumer spending continued its fourthquarter slowdown in december a sign that one of the key drivers of economic growth might contract during the first quarter of 2023 according to james knightley chief international economist at ing real spending declined by 03 last month according to the pce data a largerthanexpected drop this loss of momentum is not helpful for generating a decent first quarter consumer spending number knightley said the latest consumerspending figures combined with the 11 drop in december retail sales  the largest such decline during all of 2022  painted a dim portrait of the consumer said mike graziano consumer products senior analyst at rsm still the upshot from all the economic data released this week appears to be that the fed is succeeding in curbing inflation without instigating a large uptick in unemployment this brighter outlook for the us economy combined with optimism surrounding chinas reopening have helped to bolster global markets since the start of the year market strategists said the reopening of china weaker gas prices and growing signs of a soft landing for the us economy as it appears that the federal reserve is reducing inflation without creating significant unemployment are amongst the factors which have improved the outlook for global markets said nigel green ceo of the devere group however there are still some concerns about the strength of corporate earnings and guidance as the fourth quarter earnings season drags on see fed set to deliver quarterpoint rate hike along with one last hawkish sting in the tail us stocks have embarked on a strong rally since the beginning of the year as some of the most beatendown segments of the market including the technology sector and its beleaguered semiconductor stocks have led the january recovery meanwhile the spdr sp 500 etf trust spy celebrated the 30th anniversary of its creation this week with more inflows seea 30year revolution spy opened stocks to the masses spawning a raft of options for todays investors