US stocks cap positive week with more gains
Wall Street stocks rose again on Friday, adding to weekly gains following economic data that sets the stage for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. Analysts say fresh jobs and inflation data in recent days has corroborated the Fed's confidence that inflation has significantly moderated. On Friday, futures markets lifted the odds the Fed will cut interest rates by a half percentage-point instead of a quarter point, after markets had favoured the smaller cut earlier in the week. The S&P 500 ended at 5,626, up 0.5 percent for the day and more than four percent for the week. The Dow Jones rose 0.7 percent to 41,393, while the Nasdaq gained 0.7 percent to 17,683. "Whatever you want to call it, 'soft landing,' 'Goldilocks,' the market is fine with it," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, who pointed to bullish artificial intelligence commentary from Nvidia CEO Jenson Huang as another positive catalyst this week. Among individual companies, Boeing fell 3.6 percent after Seattle region workers overwhelmingly rejected a four-year contract proposal, launching a strike that will shutter two major factories. Trump Media & Technology Group surged 11.8 percent after Donald Trump said he would not sell his stake in the social media company. (AFP)