(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened slightly higher on Friday, awaiting the publication of data on household confidence to obtain new clues on the American economy, and while bets on the easing of interest rates in the United States continue.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 113.29 points, or 0.24%, to 46,471.71 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.13% to 6,744.06 points.
The Nasdaq Composite takes 0.10%, or 22.99 points, to 23,047.62 points.
Investors are cautiously optimistic this Friday at the opening of a session whose only macroeconomic catalyst will be the household confidence index from the University of Michigan, which will be published at 2:00 p.m. GMT and which, in the absence of official data due to the government shutdown, will probably be more followed than usual.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also hit record levels earlier this week, driven by expectations of a further cut in interest rates by the American Federal Reserve (Fed) and by the enthusiasm around artificial intelligence.
The third-quarter earnings season, which begins next week, could prompt some caution, however, and is likely to be a crucial test for markets at a time when fears are emerging about the possibility of a stock market bubble.
Some analysts believe, on the other hand, that the bull market, which has lasted for almost three years, still has a bright future ahead of it, especially if the Fed continues to lower interest rates, which most anticipate while a series of recent data suggest a weakening of the labor market and that layoffs linked to the budget impasse risk worsening tension.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Friday that private sector data supported further rate cuts, but said the central bank should only act in “cautious” quarter-percentage-point increments as it assesses the health of the economy.
In terms of values, Applied Digital advances by more than 24% after publishing a turnover above estimates on Thursday, helped by growing demand for its data center services, while generative AI applications are booming.
Levi Strauss, which on Thursday raised its profit forecast for the whole year but missed analysts’ estimates, on the other hand dropped 10.5%.
(Writing by Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)
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