Stocks are set to end the week higher despite some volatility on Friday amid investor expectations of a slowdown in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike. Equities started the week confident that inflation is easing and the latest Consumer Price Index data on Thursday confirmed those expectations. However, shares fell on Friday after JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America said they expected a mild recession. The S&P 500 is up nearly 2% for the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 1%. The Nasdaq is on pace for its second consecutive winning week, up more than 4% so far this week. United Airlines and American Airlines lead the high way. Two cruise lines were also among the winners, as were media stocks. According to FactSet data, this week at 9:38 am ET. According to, here are the top 10 gainers of this week. United Airlines was the clear winner this week, with a gain of 21%, but it was followed by American Airlines, which rose nearly 19%. American on Thursday raised its revenue and profit estimates for the fourth quarter, citing strong demand and higher rents. The airline will report earnings at the end of the month, while United is set to announce its results on Tuesday. One airliner to report this week was Delta, which was up 10% for the week but was not among the top 10 gainers. United Airlines trades 5% above the average analyst price target and is rated a buy by 48% of analysts covering its stock. However, the average price target for American Airlines is down 4% and only 9% of analysts covering it have a buy rating. Meanwhile, analysts expect Warner Bros. Discovery to gain about 49%, according to the average price target. The media company, which gained 16% this week, has a buy rating by 46% of analysts covering the stock. Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery was included in Bank of America’s US1 Best Investment Ideas list. The Wall Street firm said it likes the company’s “long-term potential” and considers the risk/reward to be “extremely attractive”. Two cruise lines also fared better this week. Norwegian Cruise Lines was up nearly 18%, while Royal Caribbean was up 13.5%. The latter was upgraded from underweight to equal weight by Morgan Stanley on Tuesday. The Wall Street firm called Royal Caribbean the “best cruise line” coming out of the COVID pandemic. Analyst Jamie Rollo wrote in the note, “RCL looks better positioned than peers, having achieved the fastest occupancies, and its better cost control has led to faster improvement in EBITDA (excluding fuel) versus peers.” ” At the same time, Rollo downgraded Norwegian Cruise Line to less than equal weight, pointing to difficulties with cost control relative to its peers. Norwegian Cruise Line has 10% upside from the average price target, with nearly 39% of the analysts covering the stock rating it a buy. Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean trades 6% above the average price target and has a buy rating from 42% of analysts covering the stock. Newcomer GE Healthcare Technologies was also among the winners for the week with a gain of 11%. The stock began trading as a separate spin-off from General Electric on January 4, as part of the group’s plan to split into three companies. GE will focus solely on aviation after spinning off its energy business in 2024. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.