Stocks Climb as Consumers Fret

The split between Wall Street and most American households grew wider Friday as US stocks rose to the finish of their eighth straight winning week, the best such streak since 2023. That's even though a survey showed consumers are feeling even worse about the economy.

• The Dow rose 294.04 points, or 0.6%, to 50,579.70, closing the week up 2.1%.
• The S&P 500 rose 27.75 points, or 0.4%, to 7,473.47, up 0.9% for the week.
• The Nasdaq rose 50.87 points, or 0.2%, to 26,343.97, up 0.5% for the week.

Ross Stores helped drive the market and rose 8.1% after the off-price retailer reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that easily cleared analysts' expectations, the AP reports. CEO Jim Conroy said it saw strong customer traffic through the three months, and the company may have benefited from households spending their tax refunds. Estee Lauder jumped 11.9% after saying it was no longer considering a merger with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and beauty products company. Workday rose 5.2%, and Zoom Communications jumped 9.2% after both delivered better profit reports for the latest quarter than analysts expected. They're the latest companies to top analysts' expectations for earnings for the start of 2026, and the cavalcade of such reports has helped stocks remain near their records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.

The strength is coming even after a survey of consumers by the University of Michigan found sentiment fell to a record low, piercing below a bottom in 2022 when inflation peaked above 9%. Households are feeling worried about how bad inflation is now because of expensive oil created by the war with Iran. US consumers are forecasting inflation will worsen to 4.8% in the coming 12 months, up from a forecast of 4.7% last month, according to the survey. In the longer run, their forecasts for inflation jumped to 3.9% from 3.5% last month. Such rising expectations are a concern for economists because they can drive behavior that creates a vicious cycle that makes inflation worse. Sentiment dropped in particular for lower-income consumers who are least able to absorb higher costs for essentials, and it fell for Republicans as well, according to the survey.