The closely watched global equities index advanced on Friday, ending a volatile week unchanged after starting it with a massive sell-off, while the dollar slipped slightly and oil prices ended higher on supply concerns over the Middle East conflict.A trio of Federal Reserve policymakers had indicated Thursday that they were more confident that inflation is cooling enough to cut rates. Their comments - along with a bigger-than-expected fall in U.S. jobless claims data - had helped to reassure investors enough to underpin the stock market recovery.On Wall Street, the three main indexes closed higher after a choppy morning. All three had tumbled on Monday, when the S&P 500 lost 3% amid a global sell-off that started in Japan as investors unwound a popular trade and worried about the prospects for a U.S. recession.With Friday's lack of new economic catalysts, Robert Phipps, director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Austin, Texas, said investors focused on hopes the S&P 500 would surpass its recent trading range of 5135 to 5346."We finished at the top of the range but were unable to break out of it,” said Phipps, noting that this likely indicated that investors were still trying to make their mind up about the U.S. economy. "This was a relief rally, not where things were good but they were not as bad as expected. There wasn't a substantial enough economic data set during the week to break us out of the trading range."On top of economic concerns, Phipps pointed to fears "the Middle East might still erupt into a broader conflict over the weekend when markets are closed and unable to react."Investors will look for fresh evidence on the chances of a soft landing for the American economy in next week's readings on the consumer prices and retail sales for July.But for the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.04%, the Nasdaq declined 0.18%, and the Dow shed 0.6%.
