US stocks traded mostly lower on Friday, but ended the week higher following a cold May CPI report.
The Nasdaq 100 closed at record highs, driven by enthusiasm for AI and strong earnings from Broadcom and Adobe.
Recent comments from the Fed suggest interest rate cuts are imminent if inflation data continues to calm.
U.S. stocks traded mostly lower on Friday, but rose for the week after a May inflation report and Apple’s unveiling of its AI ambitions at WWDC.
THE S&P500 reached record levels four days in a row through Thursday, while the Nasdaq100 closed at record highs every day of the week as enthusiasm for AI drives tech stocks higher following Broadcom’s profit explosion and strong results from Adobe.
The Nasdaq 100 finished the week up more than 3%, while the S&P 500 rose about 1.5%. THE Dow Joneswhich has little exposure to the AI ​​technology sector, ended the week down about 0.5%.
Comments from outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Loretta Mester on Friday underscored that the Fed may be on the verge of cutting interest rates after a string of subdued inflation numbers.
The Consumer and Producer Price Index rose less than expected in May, with the PPI at a 10-month low.
“It’s encouraging to see that inflation is falling again, we’ll just need this to continue a little longer,” Mester told CNBC on Friday.
Fed Chairman Austan Goolsbee said Friday that he, too, was encouraged by the May CPI report.
“We’ve actually made a lot of progress in bringing down the inflation rate. We just need to see more progress” before cutting rates, Goolsbee said.
The market currently estimates that there is a 61% chance that the Fed will cut rates at the September FOMC meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Here’s where the US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Friday:
Here’s what happened today:
In commodities, bonds and cryptocurrencies:
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil fell 0.09% to $78.55 a barrel. Brent crudethe international benchmark, was down 0.08% at $82.68 a barrel.
Gold jumped 1.39% to $2,350.30 an ounce.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell three basis points to 4.21%.
Bitcoin fell 1.99% to $65,417.
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