Wall Street advances on positive economic data
Wall Street stocks rose and the Dow scored a second consecutive all-time closing high on Friday, with Tesla and Amazon climbing after fresh US economic data raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates modestly in September. US consumer spending increased solidly in July, suggesting the economy remained strong while prices rose moderately. "Investors are seeing another sign of being in a soft landing," said Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at Newedge Wealth. "It's another one of those Goldilocks kind of reports really threading a needle right down the centre. The market is really getting exactly what it wanted." A "just-right" Goldilocks economy has steady growth, but not too much that it fuels excessive inflation. Amazon.com and Tesla each jumped over 3 percent. Broadcom rallied nearly 4 percent, while Marvell Technology surged 9 percent after the chipmaker forecast quarterly results above estimates. Friday's personal consumption expenditures report was the last major economic data release before the Fed's September meeting. Chair Jerome Powell last week expressed support for an imminent policy adjustment. Money markets suggest traders mostly expect the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points in September, with odds of a 50 basis point cut dimming further after Friday's data, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool. Friday ended a tumultuous month on Wall Street after signs of a sudden moderation in the labour market in early August sparked fears of a US recession. The influence of the Japanese yen carry trade worsened the rout. Shares have rebounded since then, with the S&P 500 trading near record highs. The S&P 500 climbed 1.01 percent to end at 5,648 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.13 percent to 17,714 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.55 percent to 41,563 points. For the month, the S&P 500 rose 2.3 percent, the Dow added 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 0.6 percent. Nvidia rose 1.5 percent, rebounding from a 6.4 percent drop on Thursday after the artificial intelligence-chip bellwether failed to match sky-high investor expectations, despite upbeat results and a broadly in-line forecast. (Reuters)