Stocks shook off their recent losing streak on Friday, but ultimately ended the holiday-shortened week lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed nearly 340 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite added about 1.3% and 1.8%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.26% or +73.92 points to 5,942.47

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.80% or +339.86 points to 42,732.13

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.77% or +340.88 points to 19,621.68

Moving Markets:

President Joe Biden blocked the merger of U.S. Steel (X  ) with Japan's Nippon Steel (NPSCY  ) on Friday, arguing that the $14.9 billion proposed acquisition would create a considerable risk to the nation's supply chains.

"Today's action reflects my unflinching commitment to utilize all authorities available to me as President to defend U.S. national security, including by ensuring that American companies continue to play a central role in sectors that are critical for our national security," Biden said in a statement.

In the News:

The U.S. Department of Transportation fined JetBlue Airways (JBLU  ) $2 million for "chronically delayed flights," on Friday, marking the first fine of its kind against an airline. The airline was found to be responsible for more than 70% of the disruptions, the DOT said.

The federal agency said the airline operated four routes that were delayed at least 145 times from June 2022 through November 2023 between John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York and Raleigh-Durham International Airport, in North Carolina; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida and JFK; and Fort Lauderdale and Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

"While we've reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding four flights in 2022 and 2023, we believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the U.S. government, which operates our nation's air traffic control system," JetBlue said in its statement. " ... we urge the incoming administration to prioritize modernizing outdated ATC technology and addressing chronic air traffic controller staffing shortages to reduce ATC delays that affect millions of air travelers each year."

Microsoft (MSFT  ) plans to spend $80 billion in fiscal 2025 to construct data centers to support artificial intelligence infrastructure, wrote Brad Smith, vice chair and president at the tech giant, in a blogpost on Friday.

"Today, the United States leads the global AI race thanks to the investment of private capital and innovations by American companies of all sizes, from dynamic start-ups to well-established enterprises," Smith wrote. "At Microsoft, we've seen this firsthand through our partnership with OpenAI, from rising firms such as Anthropic and xAI, and our own AI-enabled software platforms and applications."

General Motors (GM  ) and Ford (F  ) reported their best annual U.S. new vehicle sales in five years on Friday, demonstrating further recovery from the impacts of supply chain issues spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.

GM, remaining the U.S.'s top automaker based on sales in 2024, reported an annual increase of 4.3% with 2.7 million vehicles sold. Ford reported 2024 sales of 2.08 million, representing a more than 4% increase year-over-year.

"The driving force for our business is new vehicles with great design and performance across our portfolio, helping our dealers satisfy more customers. We're carrying significant momentum into 2025," said Rory Harvey, president of global markets at GM, in a press release.

Looking Ahead:

The S&P 500 is expected to continue its bull run in 2025, according to UBS Chief Investment Officer David Lefkowitz.

"We expect the bull market to continue with the S&P 500 reaching 6,600 by the end of the year, primarily driven by healthy profit growth of 9%," Lefkowitz wrote in a note, with his price target implying more than 12% upside from Thursday's close.

However, Lefkowitz noted that changes in trade policy under President-elect Donald Trump, inflation and U.S. economic health, growth stocks including those operating in the artificial intelligence industry are risks to broader sector growth, "but as long as America puts up the numbers, stocks should respond favorably."