Stock market today: Wall Street resumes its rally after encouraging reports on inflation and profits
Wall Street is back to climbing following more encouraging profit reports and the latest signal that inflation is loosening its chokehold on the economy
NEW YORK — Wall Street is back to climbing following more encouraging profit reports and the latest signal that inflation is loosening its chokehold on the economy. The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in early trading Friday. The Dow was up 207, or 0.6%, after breaking a 13-day winning streak a day before. The Nasdaq composite was up 1.1%. Stocks have been rallying recently on hopes high inflation is cooling enough to get the Federal Reserve to stop hiking interest rates. A report on Friday said the inflation measure the Fed prefers to use slowed by a touch more than expected last month.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Shares in Europe and Asia were mixed on Friday after the Bank of Japan adjusted its bond purchase policy but kept its negative benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Sydney fell while Hong Kong, London and Shanghai advanced. U.S. futures rose and oil prices fell.
Japan’s central bank opted to keep its benchmark interest rate at minus 0.1% at a policy meeting that ended Friday. But it adjusted its bond purchases to allow greater flexibility in yields, saying uncertainties for the economy and prices required a nimbler approach.
The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond rose after the BOJ said it would offer to buy those at a 1% yield each business day, instead of the upper limit of 0.5% that was imposed under its “yield curve control program.”
The aim is still to keep long-term interest rates near zero percent, the central bank said.
Markets in Japan wobbled before Friday's announcement.
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