Stocks closed modestly higher in a choppy session Friday as investors snapped up beaten-down sectors following the previous session's steep selloff, but ended sharply lower for the week amid ongoing worries over a global slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 37.65 points, or 0.35 percent, to finish at 10,771.46, led by BofA.
The S&P 500 gained 6.87 points, or 0.61 percent, to end at 1,136.43. The Nasdaq climbed 27.56 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 2,483.23.
The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, finished above 41.
For the week, the Dow tanked 6.41 percent, the S&P plunged 6.54 percent, while the Nasdaq tumbled 5.30 percent. Intel was the biggest gainer on the blue-chip index for the week, while Alcoa led the decliners.
All 10 S&P sectors finished in the red for the week, led by materials.
“This continues to be a really data-driven market. There’s still not much in terms of a framework for resolving long-term issues and when you don’t have a long-term framework, you react to the latest data point,” Vadim Zlotnikov, chief market strategist of Alliance Bernstein told CNBC. “If you have any horizon beyond a couple of weeks, these cyclical stocks and volatile stocks are the cheapest they’ve been in almost 40 years.”
Stocks declined heavily throughout the week as investors were cautious over the Fed's grim outlook in addition to ongoing economic jitters that fueled concerns of a recession.
Despite the recent downturn, some strategists remain positive.
“There are two things driving the market: fundamentals and global risks,” said Doug Cote, chief investment strategist of ING Investment Management. “Fundamentals like corporate earnings have been very powerful and they’ve stayed on track all year despite slowing global growth and we expect that to continue…So fundamentals drive the market until there’s great breach on risk—when that happens, the global risk moves to the frontlines.”