Wall Street’s main indexes jumped in volatile trading on Friday as a cooler-than-expected inflation report eased some market concerns triggered by the Federal Reserve forecasting only two rate reductions for 2025.
In midday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 769 points, or 1.8%, to 43,113.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.7%, and the Nasdaq surged 1.8%.
The Fed’s hawkish shift has put the Nasdaq on track to fall for the first time in five weeks, with the S&P 500 on pace for its worst week in nearly six.
The Dow was on track for its third weekly fall.
A Commerce Department report showed the Personal Consumption Expenditure index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, rose 2.4% in November on an annual basis, below estimates of 2.5%, as per economists polled by Reuters.
After the data, traders raised their rate cut bets for 2025, now expecting a rate cut first in March and then again by October. Before the data, there was about 50% chance of a second rate cut by December 2025.
Wall Street was jolted this week after the Fed forecast only two rate reductions in 2025 and raised its inflation estimate, in a nod to the economy’s continued resilience and still-high inflation.
“Before that Fed meeting, inflation wasn’t as much of a concern and then the Fed told us that we don’t think we’ve won that battle yet,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments.
“We have a lot more of balance between a healthy labor market and their (the Fed’s) concern for inflation. That makes this report a little more important than it was.”
Meanwhile, Congress was scrambling to avert a partial government shutdown before a midnight deadline, after more than three dozen Republicans rejected a demand by President-elect Donald Trump to use the measure to lift the nation’s debt ceiling.
“Potentially eliminating the debt ceiling is going to put some upward pressure on interest rates that played a bit of a role into how everything is trading,” Dickson said.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said this week’s decision to lower interest rates was a “close call,” and echoed Chair Jerome Powell’s view that caution is now warranted toward future moves.
FedEx jumped 3% after announcing the much-anticipated spinoff of its freight trucking division, as it restructures operations to focus on its core delivery business.
Eli Lilly advanced 6.4% after Danish rival Novo Nordisk’s experimental next-generation obesity drug achieved lower-than-expected weight loss in a late-stage trial.