Down Jones 575 points at close, Nasdaq posts 7% monthly gain

US stocks mostly rose in the last trading session of May, as the market assessed the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 575 points, or 1.5%, closing at 38,686 points, recording monthly gains of 2.3%. The index, however, posted a weekly loss of 1%.

The S&P 500 index rose nearly 0.8%, or 42 points, to end at 5,277 points, posting a monthly rise of 4.8%. The index shed 0.5% this week.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was steady at 16,735 points, recording weekly loss of 1.1% and ending a five-week winning streak. The index added 6.9% in May.

Elsewhere, the STOXX Europe 600 Index edged up 0.3% to 518.1 points. It posted monthly gains of 2.65%, but recorded a weekly loss of 0.45%.

FTSE 100 closed 0.55% up at 8,277 points. Germany’s DAX 40 Index kept flat at 18,497 points. The CAC 40 Index closed 0.2% higher at 7,992 points.

The Nikkei 225 closed 1.15% higher at 38,487 points. TOPIX also jumped 1.70% to 2,772 points. Both indices gained almost 0.2% and 1% in May, respectively.

In the oil market, Brent crude futures for August delivery fell by 0.95%, or 77 cents, to $81.11 a barrel, recording weekly and monthly losses of 0.9% and 5.25%, respectively.

Meanwhile, WTI crude for July delivery dropped by 1.2%, or 92 cents, to $76.99 a barrel, with the contract posting weekly and monthly losses of 0.95% and 5.3%, respectively.

As for gold, the prices of gold futures for August delivery decreased by 0.85%, or $20.7, to $2345.8 per ounce, recording a weekly loss of 0.45%, but the yellow metal achieved monthly gains of 0.9%.

The Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose by 0.2% from the previous month in April, following a 0.3% increase in March. The data showed that the annual inflation measure remained stable at 2.8%, unchanged from the previous month, but still significantly higher than the Fed’s target of 2%.