us stocks climbed on friday as investors digested data on inflation and consumer confidence as well as a slate of robust corporate earnings all of which helped markets recover from thursdays afternoon slump on thursday the dow jones industrial average fell 237 points or 067 to 35283 snapping a 13day winning streak that was the bluechip gauges longest since 1987 the sp 500 and nasdaq also finished lower us stocks advanced as investors digested economic data which confirmed that inflationary pressures have eased in recent months as stocks marched higher the sp 500 looked set to log its biggest daily percentagepoint gain since june 30 which was the last time the sp 500 rose more than 1 in a single session according to dow jones market data should the sp 500 finish at these levels it would snap the longest stretch of sub1 moves in either direction for the index since november 2021 in us economic data the cost of goods and services rose a mild 02 in june as inflation eased again core price pressures excluding food and energy decelerated to 02 in june from 03 in may at the same time the rise in the employment cost index for the second quarter slowed to 1 from 12 the lowest quarterly reading since june 2021 the july consumer sentiment index from the university of michigan reached a 22month high of 716 consumers outlook brightened thanks to the stillrobust labor market and waning inflation the markets turnaround from thursday afternoons doldrums was nothing short of impressive jj kinahan chief executive of ig north america and president of the firms brokerage tastytrade told marketwatch the market has been surprisingly strong kinahan said in a phone interview its impressive that it could bounce back so quickly today were flirting with 4600 on the sp 500 so well see if we have enough strength to push us up through that meanwhile krishna guha and marco casiraghi economists at evercore isi said in emailed commentary that the pce and eci numbers would be welcome news for the federal reserve as it continues to try and wrangle inflation back to its 2 target they also boosted hopes for a soft landing for the us economy which is seen as an ideal scenario for stocks core pce inflation confirmed the moderation in inflation from the june cpi report including in the core services outside housing category emphasized by chair powell the team said investors also digested a flurry of earnings friday including reports from exxon mobil xom procter  gamble pg and others as one of the busiest weeks for corporate earnings this quarter came to a close exxon shares opened lower after the company reported a profit miss meanwhile pg shares rose after the company blew past wall streets earnings estimates for the consumer giants fiscal fourthquarter earnings markets also were paying attention to the overnight bank of japan decision where the central bank allowed bond yields to exceed the previous boundary of 05 and go as high as 1 as a report in the nikkei that jarred markets on thursday suggested given inflation in the country has accelerated the move further increased speculation of eventual policy normalization see ueda says flexible yield curve control doesnt change bank of japans easy stance see alsobank of japan decision heres what analysts are saying after yield curve control move this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal