US stocks turn higher but are still headed for weekly losses

The Associated Press

Most stocks on Wall Street are rising Friday, but trading is once again choppy as the market closes out a tumultuous week. The benchmark S&P 500 index was up 0.6%, and Big Tech stocks had some of the biggest gains. Merck jumped 9% after the drugmaker released a study that showed its experimental pill to treat COVID-19 cut hospitalizations and deaths by half in people who were recently infected with the virus. Oil prices are up nearly 2% this week, approaching a seven-year high, while natural gas prices are up more than 8%.