New York Stock Exchange closes the week with gains

The S&P 500 index rose by 1.02 percent to 5,099.96 points, and the Nasdaq index gained 2.03 percent to reach 15,927.90 points.

This week, the S&P 500 index rose by 2.7 percent, and the Nasdaq index increased by 4.2 percent. While both indices showed their best weekly performance since November, the Dow Jones index also rose by 0.7 percent for the week.

Supported by the strong financial results of Alphabet and Microsoft, a positive trend was observed in equity markets on the last trading day of the week.

In the country, personal income increased by 0.5 percent in March compared to the previous month, in line with expectations, while personal consumption expenditures rose by 0.8 percent, exceeding expectations.

The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy items and is considered by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) as an inflation indicator, also rose by 0.3 percent on a monthly basis and 2.8 percent on an annual basis in March.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds fell by approximately 4 basis points to 4.66 percent.

The consumer confidence index, measured by the University of Michigan in the US, was revised downward to 77.2 in April.

In the country, consumers' short-term inflation expectations rose from 2.9 percent to 3.2 percent in April, while long-term inflation expectations increased from 2.8 percent to 3 percent.

On the corporate side, Microsoft announced in its balance sheet released after the markets closed yesterday that its revenue and profit increased in the January-March period. The company's shares, whose financial results exceeded market expectations, gained approximately 2 percent in value.

Shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which increased its revenue and profit in the first quarter and announced that it would distribute dividends for the first time, also rose by 10 percent. Thus, the company's market value exceeded 2 trillion dollars.

While the revenue of Intel, one of the world's largest microchip manufacturers, also increased in the first quarter, the company reported a net loss of 437 million dollars. The company's share price fell by more than 9 percent.

Shares of Exxon Mobil, one of the US energy companies that released its balance sheet today and reported a decline in profit in the first quarter, lost approximately 3 percent in value.