U.S. stocks rose at the opening bell on Friday, poised for a comeback as investors embraced new price data showing inflation continues to fall, bolstering expectations for coming rate cuts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.7%, or more than 200 points, after the blue-chip index posted a closing gain. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.9%, both after failing to recover from this week’s tech-led sell-off.
Stocks are looking positive after a volatile stretch of sessions that set major indicators on course for steep weekly losses. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 took a hit as Big Tech gains undermined confidence in AI trading, fueling the ongoing exodus from mega-caps to small-cap stocks.
That pause in this year’s rally has Wall Street wondering whether the sell-off is a turning point toward sustained lower prices or a typical bull-market pullback. At play are earnings-driven concerns about the weakness of the U.S. economy, though Thursday’s surprisingly hot GDP print eased those somewhat.
Friday’s big data point was the closely watched Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which added fuel to the idea of a still-strong economy and gradually cooling inflation. “Core” PCE, which strips out the cost of food and energy and is closely watched by the Fed, came in slightly higher than expected but rose at the slowest pace in more than three years.
Read more: 32 Charts That Tell the Story of Today’s Markets and Economy
Investors are also preparing for quarterly results from four more “Magnificent Seven” technology companies next week: Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META).
Live2 updates
