NEW YORK: Wall Street cruised to record highs on Friday, buoyed by cooler inflation data that strengthened expectations of faster rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while Intel’s upbeat earnings kept momentum in AI-related stocks alive.
A softer-than-expected inflation print for September solidified bets that the Fed will ease rates again next week. Traders brought forward their forecasts, now anticipating three quarter-point reductions by March instead of April, giving equities a late-week boost after a largely directionless stretch.
At 11:24 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 515.91 points, or 1.1 percent, to 47,249.67. The S&P 500 gained 67.28 points, or 1 percent, to 6,805.71, and the Nasdaq Composite added 294.75 points, or 1.29 percent, to 23,236.55.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on track for their best weekly run in more than two months, while the Dow was eyeing its strongest week in nearly four months.
The rate-sensitive Russell 2000 index rose 1.6 percent.
Intel was up 0.7 percent after topping third-quarter profit estimates.
AMD and Micron climbed 6.7 percent and 5 percent, respectively, while Nvidia was up 1.8 percent. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index added 2.2 percent to surpass Monday’s record.
Alphabet rose 2.9 percent after Anthropic said it would use tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Google’s AI chips to train its Claude chatbot. The communications services index gained 1.2 percent.
Consumer goods bellwether Procter & Gamble topped first-quarter estimates on strong demand for its beauty and hair-care products, sending its shares up 1 percent.
Financials were also a boost, gaining 1.2 percent. Coinbase Global rose 7.9 percent after J.P.Morgan upgraded rating on the stock to “overweight” from “neutral”.
Meanwhile, business activity showed a tepid rebound in October. The White House also warned that next month’s inflation data may not be released due to the government shutdown, now into its 24th day.
Global markets got a breather after the White House confirmed US President Donald Trump will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week during his Asia tour.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.57-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.98-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 109 new highs and 22 new lows.
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