Wall Street is rallying on Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve indicated the cuts to interest rates that investors and President Donald Trump have been craving so much may be coming soon, though he gave no clear clue about when.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.4% and erased all of its loss for the week. That’s following five straight modest losses after it set an all-time high last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 716 points, or 1.6%, and was on track to blow past its own all-time high, which was set in December. The Nasdaq composite was up 1.6%, as of 10:25 a.m. Eastern time.

The hope among investors had been that Jerome Powell would hint in his highly anticipated speech at a central bankers’ symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that cuts to interest rates may be imminent. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can give a boost to the economy and to investment prices, even if they risk worsening inflation at the same time.

Trump has angrily been calling for lower rates, often insulting Powell while doing so. And a surprisingly weak report on job growth this month pushed many on Wall Street to assume cuts may come as soon as the Fed’s next meeting in September.

Powell did say Friday that risks are rising about a weakening job market, but he also did not not commit to any kind of timing. The Fed’s two jobs are to keep the job market healthy and to keep a lid on inflation, and it often has to prioritize one because it has just one tool to fix either. Helping one one by moving interest rates often means hurting the other.

Powell said the job market looks OK at the moment, even if “it is a curious kind of balance” where fewer new workers are chasing after fewer new jobs. Inflation, meanwhile, still has the potential to push higher because of Trump’s tariffs.

In sum, Powell said that “the stability of the unemployment rate and other labor market measures allows us to proceed carefully as we consider changes to our policy stance.”

Treasury yields tumbled in the bond market after the release of the text of Powell’s speech.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.26% from 4.33% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Fed will do with its main interest rate, sank to 3.69% from 3.79%. That’s a notable move for the bond market.

On Wall Street, Ross Stores rose 0.8% after the retailer reported a stronger profit for its latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Jim Conroy said sales trends picked up at the end of the quarter in July following a lull in June.

Shares of Nio, a Chinese electric-vehicle maker, that trade in the United States climbed 12.4% after it began pre-sales of its flagship premium SUV model, the ES8.

Nvidia rose 0.8% to trim its loss for the week. The company, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move in to artificial-intelligence technology, has seen its stock struggle recently amid criticism that it and other AI superstars shot too high, too fast and became too expensive.

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, said Friday that the company is discussing a potential new computer chip designed for China with the Trump administration. The chips are graphics processing units, or GPUs, a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But they are less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today, which cannot be sold to China due to U.S. national security restrictions.

In stock markets abroad, Germany’s DAX returned 0.4% after government data showed that its economy shrank by 0.3% in the second quarter compared with the previous three-month period.

Indexes rose across much of Asia, with stocks climbing 1.4% in Shanghai and 0.9% in South Korea.

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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Nvidia, Palantir and other superstar stocks that had surged in the mania surrounding artificial-intelligence technology are dragging Wall Street lower again on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 dropped 1% and was on track for its worst day since the first of the month. It’s also heading for a fourth straight loss after setting an all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 115 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% lower.

Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move into AI, dropped 3.7% and was on track to be the heaviest weight on Wall Street for a second straight day following its 3.5% fall on Tuesday.

Palantir Technologies, another AI darling, sank 9.3% to add to its 9.4% loss from the day before.

One possible contributor to the swoon was a study from MIT’s Nanda Initiative that warned most corporations are not yet seeing any measurable return from their generative AI investments, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

But such companies have also been facing criticism for a while that their stock prices simply shot too high, too fast amid the furor around AI and became too expensive. Nvidia, whose profit report scheduled for next week is one of Wall Street’s next major events, had soared 35.5% for the year so far before Tuesday. Palantir had surged even more, more than doubling.

The tech stocks still have supporters, though, who say AI will bring the next generational revolution in business.

Mixed profit reports from big U.S. retailers helped keep the rest of the market in check.

TJX, the company behind the TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores, climbed 4.4% after beating analysts’ forecasts for profit and revenue. It also raised its forecast for profit over its full fiscal year, while CEO Ernie Herrman said TJX is seeing “strong demand at each of our U.S. and international businesses” and that its current quarter is off to a strong start.

Lowe’s added 0.9% after the home-improvement retailer delivered a profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. It also said it agreed to buy Foundation Building Materials, a distributor of drywall, ceiling systems and other interior building products, for about $8.8 billion.

Target, meanwhile, tumbled 7.3% even though it edged past analysts’ expectations for profit in the spring. The struggling retailer said that CEO Brian Cornell plans to step down Feb. 1 and that an insider, 20-year veteran Michael Fiddelke, will replace him. He helped reenergize the company, but it has struggled to turn around weak sales in a more competitive post-COVID retail landscape.

Estee Lauder dropped 5.8% after offering a forecast for profit this upcoming fiscal year that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. The beauty company said it expects tariffs to shave roughly $100 million off its upcoming earnings.

La-Z-Boy sank 13.4% after the furniture maker’s profit and revenue for the spring came up shy of analysts’ expectations. CEO Melinda Whittington said it’s contending with “soft industry demand” and that it’s looking at potential alternatives “to address financial pressure from non-core’ parts” of its business.

The week’s biggest news for Wall Street is likely arriving on Friday, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a highly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The setting has been home to big policy announcements from the Fed in the past, and the hope on Wall Street is that Powell will hint that an interest rate cut is coming soon.

The Fed has kept its main interest rate steady this year, primarily because of the fear of the possibility that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher. But a surprisingly weak report on job growth across the country may be superseding that.

Treasury yields have come down sharply on expectations for coming cuts to interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.28% from 4.30% late Tuesday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.1% despite a report that said inflation in the U.K. rose more than expected through July, in part due to soaring airfares and food prices.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5% after Japan reported that its exports fell slightly more than expected in July, pressured by higher tariffs on goods shipped to the U.S. Imports also fell from a year ago.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2%. Shares that trade there of Chinese toy company Pop Mart International Group soared 12.5% after its CEO said its annual revenue could top $4 billion this year and announced the release of a mini version of its popular Labubu dolls.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Wall Street is holding steady on Tuesday, stuck in a summer lull.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, a day after barely budging, and remains near its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 68 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%.

Home Depot rose 3.1% to lead the Dow higher after reporting results for the latest quarter that were a bit short of what analysts expected.

The retailer said homeowners have been focused on smaller, less expensive home repairs while putting off bigger projects because of high interest rates and continuing concerns about inflation. But it stood by its prior forecast for revenue and profit over the full year.

Other big retailers will deliver their latest profit updates in coming days. Lowe’s and Target are on deck for Wednesday, while Walmart and Ross Stores will report on Thursday.

The week’s likely headliner, though, will not arrive until Friday, which could keep trading on Wall Street relatively quiet until then. That’s when the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, will give a highly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The setting has been home to big policy announcements from the Fed in the past, and the hope on Wall Street is that Powell may give a hint that cuts to interest rates are coming soon.

The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate steady this year, primarily because of the fear of the possibility that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher. But a surprisingly weak report on job growth across the country and worries about the U.S. economy may be superseding that.

Traders on Wall Street widely expect the Fed to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September. Treasury yields have come down notably in the bond market as a result, and they remained lower on Tuesday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.31% from 4.34% late Monday.

Strategists at Bank of America, though, warn that Powell may not sound as inclined to cut interest rates as the market is expecting. He could remain non-committal and discuss the possibility of a worst-case scenario for the economy called “stagflation.” The Fed has no good tool to fix that situation, where the economy stagnates at the same time as inflation remains high.

On Wall Street, Palo Alto Networks climbed 6.5% after reporting profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. The cybersecurity company also gave forecasts for profit and revenue in its upcoming fiscal year that were above Wall Street’s.

Tegna rose 4.8% after Nexstar Media Group said it will buy the owner of 64 television stations across the country for $22 per share in cash, giving the deal a total value of $6.2 billion, including debt. Nexstar, which owns the CW and local television broadcasters of its own, added 7.2%.

The companies said combining will give them a broader reach and allow them to better compete with Big Tech and legacy media.

Viking Therapeutics tumbled 39.7% after the biopharmaceutical company released results from a clinical trial of its oral tablet, which could treat obesity and other metabolic disorders.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe after falling modestly in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4% as market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4% after it announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in U.S. chip maker Intel.

Intel, which has been climbing recently on reports that the Trump administration may take an ownership stake in the company, climbed 7.5%.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© AP Photo/Richard Drew

U.S. stocks are hanging around their record levels on Friday as Wall Street heads toward the finish of another winning week.

The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from the all-time high it set the day before, but it’s still on track to close its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, and flirting with its record set in December. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%, hurt by losses for tech stocks.

The U.S. stock market set records this week as expectations built that the Federal Reserve will deliver a cut to interest rates at its next meeting in September. Lower rates can boost investment prices and the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, but they also risk worsening inflation.

A disappointing report about inflation at the U.S. wholesale level on Thursday made traders pare back bets for coming cuts to interest rates, but they’re still overwhelmingly expecting them. Such anticipation has sent Treasury yields notably lower in the bond market, and they held there following a mixed set of updates on the economy on Friday.

One said shoppers boosted their spending at U.S. retailers last month, as economists expected, while another said that manufacturing in New York state unexpectedly grew. A third said industrial production across the country shrank last month, when economists were looking for modest growth.

Another report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is worsening because of worries about inflation, when economists expected to see a slight improvement.

“Overall, consumers are no longer bracing for the worst-case scenario for the economy feared in April,” when President Trump announced his stunning set of worldwide tariffs, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s surveys of consumers. “However, consumers continue to expect both inflation and unemployment to deteriorate in the future.”

On Wall Street, UnitedHealth Group jumped 11.4% after famed investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said it bought nearly 5 million shares of the insurer during the spring, valued at $1.57 billion. Buffett is known for trying to buy good stocks at affordable prices, and UnitedHealth’s halved for the year by the end of July because of a run of struggles.

Berkshire Hathaway’s own stock added 0.1%.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Applied Materials, which fell 11.7% even though it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The focus was on the company’s forecast for a drop in revenue during the current quarter.

Its products help manufacture semiconductors and advanced displays, and CEO Gary Dickerson pointed to a “dynamic macroeconomic and policy environment, which is creating increased uncertainty and lower visibility in the near term, including for our China business.”

Sandisk fell 3.7% despite reporting a profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. Investors focused instead on the data storage company’s forecast for profit in the current quarter, which came up short of Wall Street’s.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7% after the government said its economy grew at a better-than-expected pace in the latest quarter.

Stock indexes rose 0.8% in Shanghai but fell 1% in Hong Kong after data showed China’s economy may have slowed in July under pressure from uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs.

“Chinese economic activity slowed across the board in July, with retail sales, fixed asset investment, and value added of industry growth all reaching the lowest levels of the year. After a strong start, several months of cooling momentum suggest that the economy may need further policy support,” ING Economics said in a market commentary.

European stock indexes were mixed ahead of a meeting later in the day between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could dictate where the war in Ukraine is heading.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding at 4.29%, where it was late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, eased to 3.72% from 3.74%.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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