Stocks close higher, led by health care and tech companies

Stocks rose Friday in a modest but broad rally that erased much of the losses from earlier in the week, when investors had sold amid fears of rising interest rates.

Health care and technology stocks rose the most, helping nudge the Standard and Poor’s 500 index back to slight gains for the week and year. Nine of the index’s 10 sectors closed higher.

Stocks rose from the start of trading, following sizable gains in Europe. Among the winners, Intel climbed nearly 2 percent and Pfizer closed up 1.1 percent.

Investors were spooked earlier in the week when the Federal Reserve released minutes of its last meeting that suggested it may raise rates in June, something the market had not expected. They scrambled to readjust portfolios, selling oil and copper, U.S. Treasury bonds and stocks of steady dividend payers like utilities that tend to fall when rates rise.

But on Friday a measure of calm returned. Bonds barely moved, commodities ended mixed and utilities rose, albeit just 0.2 percent.

The S&P 500 rose 12.28, or 0.60 percent, to 2,052.32.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 65.54, or 0.38 percent, to 17,500.94. The Dow lost 0.2 percent for the week.

The Nasdaq composite rose 57.03, or 1.21 percent, to 4,769.56.

Applied Materials led the move higher in technology stocks. The maker of chipmaking equipment jumped $2.75, or 14 percent, to $22.66 after reporting earnings ahead of analysts’ forecasts.

Friday’s gains notwithstanding, the major indexes have barely moved this year.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Stocks close higher, led by health care and tech companies."