Stocks on Wall Street finished broadly higher Friday as the market closed out its fourth straight winning month with solid gains.
- The Dow rose 228.03 points, or 0.6%, to close at 41,563.08 and set its fourth all-time high this week.
- The S&P 500 rose 56.44 points, rose 1%, to 5,648.40. That's a 2.3% gain for the month, and it's up 18.4% so far this year.
- The Nasdaq gained 197.19 points, a 1.1% increase, to 17,713.62.
Wall Street spent the day mulling encouraging reports on inflation, consumer spending, and income, the AP reports. The Commerce Department said its personal consumption and expenditures report showed prices rose just 0.2% from June to July, up from the previous month's 0.1% increase. Compared with a year earlier, inflation was unchanged at 2.5%. Economists had expected the PCE, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, would show that inflation edged up to 2.6% in July. It was as high as 7.1% in the middle of 2022. The report confirms price increases are cooling, keeping the central bank on track to cut rates for the first time in more than four years at its upcoming meeting next month. The market is betting that the Fed will cut its benchmark rate by a full 1% by the end of the year.
Technology stocks led the market. Marvell Technology climbed 9.2% after its latest quarterly results hit Wall Street's sales and profit targets. Other chipmakers also rose. Broadcom added 3.8%, and Nvidia gained 1.5%. Dell also beat analysts' second-quarter forecasts, boosted by record server and networking revenue as companies continue to beef up their artificial intelligence infrastructure. Its shares rose 4.3%. Mall-based cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty fell 4% after its sales and profit fell short of expectations. Ulta also trimmed its guidance below analysts' forecasts. Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway revealed it holds a stake in the company earlier this month. US stock exchanges will be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
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