Wall Street ends higher on US soft landing hopes

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

earnings, economic data and central bank announcements boosted investor confidence in a soft landing for the U.S. economy. U.S.

annual inflation slowed considerably in June, likely pushing the Federal Reserve closer to ending its fastest interest rate hiking cycle since the 1980s, data showed on Friday. In the 12 months through June, the PCE price index advanced 3.0%. That was the smallest annual gain since March 2021 and followed a 3.8% rise in May.

«You put all that together and you end up with this idea that this Goldilocks economy might continue for a little while, with inflation clearly coming down,» said Scott Ladner, Chief Investment Officer at Horizon Investments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 176.37 points, or 0.5%, to 35,459.09, the S&P 500 gained 44.76 points, or 0.99%, to 4,582.17 and the Nasdaq Composite added 266.55 points, or 1.9%, to 14,316.66. «People are more sanguine about the possibility of inflation being under control and the economy avoiding a recession,» said Win Murray, director of research at asset manager Diamond Hill.

For the week, the Nasdaq climbed 2.02%, while the S&P rose 1.01%, and the Dow gained 0.66%. The gains gave the S&P 500 its highest close since April 4, 2022. Volume on U.S.

exchanges was 10.10 billion shares, compared with the 10.45 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed was not forecasting a recession and did not rule out another rate hike, saying it would follow future economic data. To complete a week of encouraging signs, more than half of the firms listed on the S&P 500 have reported second quarter earnings as of Friday, out of which 78.7% have surpassed analyst expectations,