US stocks ended higher on Friday in a choppy trading session, as gains in defensive shares overshadowed energy declines, and investors shrugged off hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials about interest rate hikes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 199.37 points, or 0.59%, to 33,745.69, the S&P 500 gained 18.78 points, or 0.48%, to 3,965.34 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.11 points, or 0.01%, to 11,146.06.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston leader Susan Collins said that, with little evidence price pressures are waning, the Fed may need to deliver another 75-basis point rate hike as it seeks to get inflation under control.
In U.S. economic data, the National Association of Realtors said Friday that existing-home sales fell 5.9% in October, slumping for a ninth straight month. That's down 28.4% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the U.S. leading economic index fell 0.8% in October, an eighth straight monthly decline, according to a Conference Board report Friday.
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