Stock market today: Dow ekes out weekly win, but fresh inflation fears cap gains
Investing.com — The Dow closed higher Friday, eking out a weekly gain, though upside was capped by renewed inflation fears pushing Treasury yields higher and deflating investor bets that the Fed is unlikely to resume rate hikes later this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, or 105 points, Nasdaq fell 0.6%, and the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower.
Producer price index for final demand increased 0.3% in July, above economists' forecasts of 0.2%, and pick up from the 0.1% pace seen in June. In the 12 months through July, the PPI rose 2.4%, just above estimates of 2.3%.
“Coupled with yesterday’s headline rise in the CPI, this morning’s hotter-than-expected PPI data deflates – no pun intended – the market’s earlier optimism the Committee will move back to the sidelines in September,” Stifel said in a note.
Treasury yields climbed as bets eased that the Fed may have raised rates for the last time in July, with the 10-year Treasury yield inching closer to its October high of 5.12%.
Big tech, with the exception of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), struggled to turn positive as Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) led to the downside falling more than 1%.
Chip stocks continued to add pressure on tech, with NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) slipping 3% as the chipmaker fights to keep its $1 trillion valuation.
Still some on Wall Street continue to back semis, noting that the recent slew of quarterly results from semis point to an ongoing recovery.
“Recent earnings reports from chip foundries, memory companies and other major chip companies give us confidence that the chip recovery will continue in the coming months,” Nomura said in a note.
News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates,
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