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US stocks rose on Friday after tame inflation data and dovish comments from the Fed’s Austan Goolsbee.
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Goolsbee said he expects rates to continue falling over the next 12 to 18 months.
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Investors are keeping a close eye on a possible government shutdown and a major triple whammy for the options market.
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, recouping some of the week’s losses caused by a hawkish Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 500 points, giving back some of its intraday gains after rising more than 800 points. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 rose more than 1%.
The market opened lower but reversed course later in the morning. Gains accelerated after Fed President Austan Goolsbee told CNBC he expects rates to fall “quite a bit” over the next 12 to 18 months.
Goolsbee, like the broader market, was encouraged by recent inflation figures, which came in below economists’ expectations.
A drop in bond yields also helped stocks through the day, with 10-year Treasury yields falling four basis points to 4.528%.
The PCE index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, rose 0.1% monthly in November, compared with economists’ estimates of 0.2%. On an annual basis, the indicator rose by 2.4%, compared to an expectation of 2.5%.
“We are still on track to reach 2% and at least for this new month you don’t want to make too much on one month, but I am hopeful that this indicates that the few months of strengthening it is more of a bump then a change in rate,” Goolsbee said of the recent inflation data.
Here’s where the US indexes stood as of 4:00 PM on Friday:
Concerns about an impending government shutdown have also caused recent market volatility. Congress has until midnight Friday to approve an agreement to avoid a shutdown.
While Congress had drafted an emergency funding bill a few days ago, newly elected President Donald Trump and Elon Musk torpedoed it, complaining about unnecessary spending measures in the law.
A second attempt to pass a Trump-approved government funding bill failed late Thursday night in the House of Representatives, with a final vote of 174 in favor to 235 against.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has since proposed a new plan that would temporarily keep the government open and fund disaster relief. The bill reportedly has Republican support and will be put to a vote later on Friday.
President Trump has said so for his part he wants an abolition of the debt ceiling, or at least extend a debt ceiling pause until 2029, when his second term expires.
House Speaker Johnson’s new bill does not include the elimination of the debt ceiling.
Traders are also wary of the quarterly triple-witching, with about $6.5 trillion worth of options tied to stocks and ETFs set to expire soon.
Here’s what else happened today:
In commodities, bonds and crypto:
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West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.27% to $69.57 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.19% to $73.02 per barrel.
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Gold rose 1.36% to $2,643.70 an ounce.
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The yield on ten-year government bonds fell by 5 basis points to 4.530%.
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Bitcoin fell 0.98% to $96,426.
Read the original article on Business Insider