S&P 500, Nasdaq book third-straight weekly decline ahead of long holiday weekend

U.S. stock indexes closed up Friday as investors digested a raft of economic data on the last trading day before Christmas, ending a volatile week fraught with concerns over the central bank's monetary policy and potential economic downturn in 2023. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 176 points higher, or 0.5%, to 33,204 on Friday. The S&P 500 gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 5.5% year-over-year in November, slower than 6.1% increase in the prior month. The core PCE, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, climbed 4.7% last month from a year ago, while economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 4.6%. For the week, the S&P 500 booked a weekly loss of 0.2%, while the Nasdaq recorded a decline of nearly 2%. The Dow was the outperformer this week, logging a weekly gain of 0.9%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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