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January PCE price index rises 2.5% YoY

*

Dell falls after forecasting drop in FY26 gross margin

*

HP falls on downbeat quarterly profit forecast

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S&P 500 +0.38%, Nasdaq +0.29%, Dow +0.38%

(Updates with afternoon trading)

By Sukriti Gupta and Noel Randewich

Feb 28 (Reuters) -

Wall Street climbed in choppy trading on Friday, with

Broadcom ( AVGO ) dipping and other tech stocks climbing after a meeting

between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian

counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy ended in disaster.

Zelenskiy and Trump traded

verbal blows

at the White House before the world's media over Ukraine's

war with Russia. That added fresh uncertainty for investors

already worried about sticky U.S. inflation and a tepid economy.

U.S. stocks moved lower immediately after the clash,

then recovered and moved higher.

Zelenskiy left the White House without signing a

much-vaunted deal between Ukraine and the U.S. over the joint

development of natural resources.

"The news, if you watched it live, it was pretty

worrisome. It got heated, and Zelenskiy is considered an ally of

the U.S.," said Adam Sarhan, Chief Executive at 50 Park

Investments. "That's why the market sold off, but then cooler

heads prevailed. Zelenskiy either is going to make a deal or

he's not."

Chipmaker Broadcom was down 1.1%, weighing on

the S&P 500, while Nvidia ( NVDA ), Apple ( AAPL ) and Tesla

rose.

The S&P 500 was up 0.38% at 5,883.68 points.

The Nasdaq gained 0.29% to 18,598.86 points, while the

Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.38% at 43,403.08 points.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, 11 rose, led by

financials, up 0.94%, followed by a 0.84% gain in energy

.

Earlier, a

Commerce Department report showed inflation rose in line

with expectations in the previous month. However, consumer

spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the

economy, dropped 0.2% after an upwardly revised 0.8% increase in

December. This could complicate the Federal Reserve's

deliberations on monetary policy.

"Spending came in lower than we were looking for... most of

it I would attribute to a cooling economy, which presents a

dilemma for the Fed in the sense that you still have inflation

and you have an economy that is moving lower. If you add them

together, that equals stagflation," said Peter Cardillo, chief

market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

Friday's report is important for investors trying to gauge

the next move for the central bank after policymakers reiterated

a hawkish stance. Investors worry Trump's policies, especially

trade restrictions, could exacerbate U.S. inflation.

"Tariff talk certainly is having a negative effect on

the stock market, and it probably will keep a lid on stock

market advances until there's more clarity around that," said

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

Traders see the Fed lowering borrowing costs twice by

December, little changed from before the report, according to

data compiled by LSEG. Investors will assess comments from

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee later in the day.

The CBOE Volatility Index, also known as Wall

Street's fear gauge, touched a one-month high and was last up at

21.26 points.

Signs of a tepid economy and concerns that Microsoft ( MSFT )

and other technology heavyweights may be overspending

on artificial-intelligence infrastructure have put Wall Street's

main indexes on track for monthly declines.

The S&P 500 is on track for its biggest monthly drop since

April 2024. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down about 8% from

its record high close last December and is headed for its

steepest one-month fall since September 2023.

Dell lost 6.1% after the PC maker forecast a

decline in its adjusted gross margin rate for fiscal 2026.

Peer HP Inc ( HPQ ) fell 8.9% after its quarterly profit

forecasts missed expectations.