(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened in dispersed order on Friday, the Dow Jones index affecting an upward record, supported by the anticipations of a drop in interest rates by the American Federal Reserve (Fed) in September and by the gains recorded by Unitedhealth.
In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones index earns 260.62 points, or 0.58%, at 45,171.88 points and the Standard & Poor’s 500, wider, increased from 0.10% to 6,474.81 points.
The Nasdaq Composite gives way 0.02%, or 4.99 points, to 21,705.68 points.
Although the latest retail sales data showed an online increase with expectations in July, those of import prices have raised fears of a resumption of inflation in the coming months, under the effect of customs duties, without starting the expectations of a decrease in Fed rates at the start of the school year.
“All data allows the Fed to maintain the option of a drop in rates in September,” said Art Hogan, market chief strategist at B Riley Wealth.
“If we take the components of consumer inflation and production inflation and extrapolate this data from the price of personal consumer expenditure, we obtain a result which is largely within the limits that the Fed would like to see to feel comfortable reducing the rates in September,” he added.
On the commercial front, Donald Trump said that he would reveal customs duties on steel and semiconductors next week, while the meeting between the White House tenant and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Friday in Alaska feeds the hope of a conflict resolution in Ukraine on the markets.
In values, Unitedhealth Group earns 9.60% after Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, revealed a new investment in the health insurer.
Intel is also advancing 2.41%, benefits from press information from the Bloomberg agency that the US government plans to participate in the capital of the group in difficulty.
On the other hand, Applied Materials drops by almost 13% after having published mediocre forecasts for the fourth trimester due to the weakness of Chinese demand, feeding concerns related to risks concerning customs duties.
(Written by Mara Vîlcu, edited by Augustin Turpin)
Copyright © 2025 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
