US benchmark equity indexes closed mostly higher Friday as investors evaluated remarks by Federal Reserve officials and a consumer sentiment survey.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 39,512.8, while the S&P 500 added 0.2% to 5,222.7. The Nasdaq Composite was little changed at 16,340.9. Consumer staples led sector gainers, while consumer discretionary posted the steepest decline.

For the week, the Dow jumped 2.2%, while the S&P 500 increased 1.9%. The Nasdaq rose 1.1%.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Reuters in an interview that he's still hopeful that policymakers can lower their benchmark lending rate this year, though the timing and magnitude of the policy easing is not certain.

Separately, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the current monetary policy is likely "relatively restrictive," Reuters reported. "There isn't at this time much evidence in my view that inflation is stalling out at 3%."

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said it's of "utmost importance" that policymakers maintain credibility in their fight against inflation by moving ahead carefully and deliberately to achieve their 2% target.

Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said "it's just too early to think" about lowering interest rates amid upside risks to inflation, according to a separate Reuters report.

In a bid to combat inflation, the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee tightened monetary policy by 525 basis points from March 2022 through July 2023. It has kept interest rates unchanged since then, with its latest pause coming last week.

The US two-year yield increased 6.1 basis points to 4.87%, while the 10-year rate gained 5.1 basis points to 4.50%.

In economic news, preliminary data from the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers showed the main sentiment gauge fell to 67.4 in May from 77.2 last month in what Jefferies called the biggest month-to-month decline since August 2021. The consensus was for a smaller decrease to 76.2, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Year-ahead inflation expectations increased to 3.5% this month from 3.2% in April. The five-year price growth outlook ticked up to 3.1% from 3%, according to the survey.

"While consumers had been reserving judgment for the past few months, they now perceive negative developments on a number of dimensions," Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said. "They expressed worries that inflation, unemployment and interest rates may all be moving in an unfavorable direction in the year ahead."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 1.2% to $78.31 per barrel.

In company news, Mettler-Toledo International (MTD) shares jumped 17%, the biggest gain on the S&P. The company late Thursday reported better-than-expected Q1 financial results.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) shares slumped 11%, the steepest decline on the S&P 500. The cloud computing company's Q1 revenue fell short of Wall Street's estimates, dragged down by weakness in content delivery solutions. The company offered a downbeat outlook for the current quarter.

Moderna (MRNA) shares fell 4.4%, the biggest drop on the Nasdaq. The drugmaker said the Food and Drug Administration pushed back the pending review of the company's respiratory syncytial virus vaccine to the end of the month due to "administrative constraints."

Gold rose 1.3% to $2,370.50 per troy ounce, while silver gained 0.3% to $28.44 per ounce.