Stocks on Wall Street closed higher Thursday, building on their winning week, as investors sifted through a deluge of news about the economy, interest rates and corporate profits.
The S&P 500 rose 1 percent after shaking off an early stumble, returning to its highest level in six weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also recovered from a midafternoon slide to end 0.5 percent higher, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.4 percent as Tesla and technology stocks led the market.
Much of Wall Street’s focus was on Europe, where a yearslong experiment with negative interest rates came to a close. In the United States, reports suggested the economy is slowing more than expected, while a better-than-expected profit report from Tesla headlined a mixed set from the nation’s biggest companies. Stocks briefly lost ground after President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID….