U.S. stocks rallied on Friday to close out their dreary February on a brighter note. The S&P 500 jumped 1.6% to trim its loss for the month, enough to make it the worst only since December instead of since April.

The U.S. stock market has been generally struggling since the middle of last week after several weaker-than-expected reports on the economy thudded onto Wall Street. On Tuesday, the latest said confidence among U.S. consumers is falling by more than economists expected.