Wall Street closed out a bumpy week with a moderate advance today as tech stocks charged higher on takeover news and other sectors gained on data that indicated the US economy is expanding at a healthy pace. The major indexes managed to post gains for the week.

Stocks in the US retreated from lofty heights today after a European Central Bank official pointed to rising price risks and a major Wall Street bank lowered its sales expectations for Chinese internet company Baidu.com.

A combination of moderate inflation and falling oil prices energised Wall Street today, sending stocks higher as investors grew optimistic about an end to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.

Baidu.com, a concern aiming to become the Chinese-language equivalent of internet search giant Google, is poised to follow the US giant’s example with an initial public stock market offering in America, hoping to raise €36.2m.