The S&P 500 climbed Friday notching another all-time closing high and hefty weekly gains, underpinned by a jump in Apple and further rate cuts hopes following the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut since December.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 172 points, or 0.4% to a record closing high. The S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to 6,664.39, clinching another all-time closing high. The NASDAQ Composite climbed 0.7%.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, the benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite all posted fresh all-time closing highs on Thursday, as investors continued to digest a Federal Reserve interest rate reduction earlier this week.
Fed cut boosts sentiment
Wall Street has drawn support from the Fed’s decision on Wednesday to cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4.00% to 4.25%.
The policy shift, aimed at cushioning a cooling labor market, was accompanied by projections for two more quarter-point reductions this year and another in 2026.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the move was a “risk-management cut” and stressed that future easing would depend on incoming data.
He pointed to persistent inflation pressures and uneven economic signals, underscoring that the central bank would proceed cautiously rather than committing to an aggressive cutting cycle.
"[B]ulls [are] celebrating the fact that both fiscal and monetary policy are now in stimulus mode while the AI mania continues," analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note.
Trump touts progress following talks with Chain’s Xi
On the political front, President Donald Trump said that progress on U.S-China trade talks was made following a call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday.
"I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal," Trump wrote on social media.
Ahead of the call, U.S. officials have said the deal to keep short-form video app TikTok operating in the U.S. would be at the top of the agenda when Trump and Xi hold their first known call in three months, according to Reuters. It could reportedly serve as a precursor to a possible in-person meeting between the two at a summit in South Korea later this year, which would come after months of heated negotiations over trade since Trump’s return to power in January.
For TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, an accord over the fate of its U.S. arm would settle what has been a continued source of uncertainty for the mega-popular platform.
FedEx impresses with quarterly results
In the corporate sector, shipping giant FedEx (NYSE:FDX) posted better-than-anticipated quarterly revenue and profit, with its results bolstered by a drive to bring down costs, which helped to counterbalance soft international volumes following the end of a tariff exemption for certain low-value products sent directly to consumers.
Executives flagged that the end of the so-called "de minimis" exemption took a $150 million bite out of fiscal first-quarter revenue -- but a top-line figure of $22.24 billion was still above estimates of $21.66 billion. Adjusted profit of $912 million also surpassed projections.
Homebuilder Lennar (NYSE:LEN), on the other hand, reported a 46% drop in fiscal third-quarter profit.
U.S. housing demand has been dented by inflation fears and it remains somewhat uncertain if the restart of a Fed policy easing cycle will put short-term downward pressure on mortgage costs.
Lennar has rolled out incentives like cost adjustments and mortgage rate buydowns to try to boost home demand, but these have also served to dent profit margins.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock jumped after JPMorgan hiked its price on the stock to $280 from $255, citing growing demand for the tech giant’s latest iPhones. Hundreds of people lined up at its flagship store in Beijing on the launch day of the iPhone 17.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) retreated after its 22% surge yesterday that following Nvidia announcing that it would invest $5B in the chipmaker.
Source :
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/us-stock-futures-gain-after-wall-st-hits-new-peak-on-intel-surge-fed-cut-4246003
