Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq surge to records as tame inflation cements Fed rate cut bets

Stocks closed at record highs on Friday as investors saw the latest inflation print released before the bell as an encouraging sign that the Federal Reserve is going to cut rates next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 1%, or over 460 points, to close above the 47,000 mark for the first time. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 1% to top a record level of 6,800, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped 1.2% also to an all-time high close.

Fed officials will meet next week to decide on the direction of interest rates. Wall Street widely anticipates a rate cut after September’s inflation print came in milder than expected.

On the earnings front, Ford (F) rose 13% on the heels of a better-than-expected earnings print, while Intel (INTC) pared early gains following its quarterly release, but still ended the session in green territory.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

Read more here.

Ford (F) rallied as high as 13% on Friday afternoon after the carmaker posted better-than-expected earnings.

The company outpaced third quarter estimates with adjusted earnings per share figures of $0.45 (vs. expectations of $0.36) and revenue of $47.185 billion versus expectations of $43.7 billion.

Gold (GC=F) retreated less than 1% on Friday to cap a volatile week.

Futures for the precious metal fluctuated between positive and negative territory, hovering near $4,122 per troy ounce on Friday afternoon.

Gold plunged 5.5% from record levels on Tuesday, but was able to recover some of those losses to close out the week down more than 1.5%.

Yahoo Finance’s Jen Schonberger reports:

Read more here.

Target (TGT) shares were little changed Friday as the company announced layoffs, climbing fractionally in midday trading relative to the major gauges’ gains of 1% or higher.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

Read the full story here.

Crypto stocks spiked in midday trading Friday as cooler-than-expected inflation data further solidified investor confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting and beyond.

Robinhood (HOOD) stock climbed 3.3%, while stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) rose 5.1%. MARA (MARA) shares added 2.6%, and Riot Platforms (RIOT) was up 5.3%.

Meanwhile, crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) saw shares surge 7% as JPMorgan (JPM) upgraded the stock to an Overweight rating from Neutral, citing its “monetization opportunities” through the potential issuance of a token for its Base blockchain and its possible enhancement of USDC (a stablecoin) payouts.

Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger reports:

Read the full story here.

Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) shares moved nearly 3% higher, ahead of the Nasdaq’s 1% gain, as Google announced a deal with Anthropic to supply the AI developer with up to 1 million of its custom chips.

Google offers its TPUs, or AI chips, through its cloud segment to customers, representing a mounting competitive threat to leading AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA). DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria estimates the TPU business, combined with Google’s DeepMind AI segment, to be worth $900 billion and “arguably one of Alphabet’s most valuable businesses.”

Anthropic first announced a partnership with Google Cloud to use the TPUs in 2023, but the latest deal announced Thursday was the “largest expansion of Anthropic’s TPU usage to date.”

Anthropic is backed by Amazon (AMZN) and has mainly used that tech giant’s chips through Amazon Web Services (AWS) in addition to Nvidia’s GPUs. Amazon is in the process of building a massive data center project called Project Rainier with hundreds of thousands of its Trainium2 chips that would be used by Anthropic.

“AWS continues to be Anthropic’s primary training partner and cloud provider,” an Amazon spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

Shares in Amazon were up 1% Friday.

The 10-year Treasury Yield (^TNX) was roughly flat Friday morning, remaining just below 4%, following cooler-than-expected inflation data that left rate-cut bets unchanged.

The CPI report Friday — a much-awaited pulse check on the economy, as the ongoing government shutdown has paused the release of economic data — showed prices rose less than expected in September.

Following the release, investors maintained confidence in a coming rate cut from the Federal Reserve at its meeting next week. Investors are pricing in 99% odds of a quarter-point cut at the October meeting, while traders see a 96% probability of another slash in December.

The 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX), meanwhile, rose slightly to just under 4.6%.

US stocks made gains on Friday at the open following cooler-than-expected inflation data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.5%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped 0.9%.

The rise in stocks comes as the CPI report Friday showed US prices rose less than expected in September.

The price people pay for goods and services came in lower than expected on Friday, according to data released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yahoo Finance’s senior reporter Allie Canal delves deeper into the first and only data release from the federal government during the shutdown.

Read more here.

Procter & Gamble (PG) stock rose 3% before the bell on Friday after beating first-quarter estimates.

Yahoo Finance’s executive editor Brian Sozzi looks into the consumer goods company’s results.

Read more here.

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Economic data: CPI (September); S&P Global US manufacturing PMI (October); S&P Global US services PMI (October preliminary); S&P Global US composite PMI (October preliminary); New home sales (September); New home sales (September); University of Michigan sentiment, (October final reading); Kansas City Fed services activity (October)

Earnings calendar: Procter & Gamble (PG), Sanofi (SNY), HCA Healthcare (HCA), General Dynamics (GD), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), NatWest Group (NWG), Eni (E), Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Trump stops Canada trade talks over Reagan tariff ad

CPI inflation set to quench data-starved investors’ thirst

Little ‘bubbles’ everywhere — but stock market still holds

Investors use dotcom era playbook to dodge AI bubble risks

JPMorgan to allow bitcoin and ether as collateral in crypto push

S&P 500 rally’s next leg seen fueled by big buyers on sidelines

How record-high national debt impacts mortgage rates

Procter & Gamble tops estimates on resilient demand

Oil disruption widens as China pauses some Russia buys on curbs

Unlike past boom-and-bust cycles, todays excesses haven’t stopped the current rally – just yet.

Yahoo Finance’s senior reporter Allie Canal looks further into the reasons why the stock market has managed to keep its cool amongst all the noise.

Read more here.

Ford (F) shares rose 3% before the bell on Friday after the Big Three automaker reported third quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.

Newmont (NEM) stock fell 5% before the bell on Friday after the company reported earnings and warned of lower free cash flow.

QuantumScape Corporation (QS) rose 1% in premarket trading after closing 7% up in the prior day’s trading. Quantum computing stocks soared Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that multiple companies are in talks for the US government to take equity stakes in exchange for federal funding.

Deckers (DECK) stock slumped more than 10% in premarket trading on Friday after the footwear and apparel company forecast full-year sales below analysts estimates. The group said it expects consumers to be cautious over the next few months when the full effect of tariffs is seen.

The WSJ reports:

Read more here.

Sanofi (SNY) stock rose more than 3% before the bell on Friday after its third-quarter earnings beat forecasts due to a boost in demand for blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent, but the French company flagged lower vaccination rates partly due to a “negative buzz” around vaccines.

Reuters reports

Read more here.