US stocks end pre-holiday session mostly up
Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session mostly higher on Friday in a quiet finale to another winning week following benign inflation data. The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 2.6 percent from a year ago in November, below October's 2.9 percent figure. The data, which is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve, bolsters expectations that the US central bank will soon cut interest rates. The S&P 500 finished at 4,754, up 0.2 percent for the day and 0.8 percent for the week. The Dow Jones slipped 0.1 percent to 37,385, while the Nasdaq added 0.2 percent at 14,992. Analysts said trading volumes were depressed, with many investors on vacation ahead of Monday's Christmas holiday, when markets will be closed. Spartan Capital's Peter Cardillo characterised the inflation data as "good news," saying it indicates "the rates will move lower." Among individual companies, sports giant Nike saw its shares tumble 11.8 percent early on Friday after it promised up to US$2 billion in cost savings involving job cuts, as it eyes softer sales in the coming period. Cummins dropped 2.9 percent after it agreed to pay US$1.7 billion to settle claims it installed devices to defeat emissions controls in hundreds of thousands of pickup truck engines. Cummins said the settlement with federal and state officials needs court approval. (AFP)