Wall Street ends higher after Zelenskiy and Trump clash
STORY: U.S. stocks ended higher after a choppy trading session on Friday, with the Dow gaining about 1.4% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both climbing roughly 1.6%.
It was a significant reversal for Wall Street's main indexes, which had turned lower after U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed in an extraordinary exchange before the world's media at the White House over the war with Russia.
Robert Conzo, CEO and managing director of The Wealth Alliance, said the verbal battle rattled investors already on edge about a number of economic factors, including the effect of Trump's tariffs and the direction of interest rates.
"And so the name of the game here, and this was a perfect, perfect example of it, is uncertainty. People were not expecting that exchange on any level to happen like that. The fact that it does is basically how his presidency has been going ever since. Things come out in 3 seconds and changed the game. Uncertainty reigned supreme today.'
Earlier in the day, a Commerce Department report showed inflation rose in January in line with expectations.
However, consumer spending in January fell for the first time in nearly two years, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve's deliberations on monetary policy.
Among Friday's stock moves, Dell dropped more than 4.5% after the PC maker forecast a decline in its adjusted gross margin rate for fiscal 2026.
Peer HP fell nearly 7% after its quarterly profit forecasts missed expectations.
And shares of Nvidia and Tesla rose almost 4% each, recovering some ground after a dismal week for both stocks.
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