The market climbed back with force Friday, sending the S&P 500 towards its 38th all-time high close, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to an all-time closing high of 40,001. In the hour before the end of trading for the week, the S&P 500 pulled back and it missed its record close.
Compared to its partner top indexes, the Dow Jones has not seen a fresh all-time high since May.
Shortly after the close at 4 pm EST Friday, the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ climbed 0.55%, the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ climbed 0.62%, and the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ climbed 0.63%.
In macro this week, investors watched inflation indicators and comments from Jerome Powell on Capitol Hill.
Producer Price Index numbers came out Friday, showing core producer prices grew at a rate of 0.4%, more than last month. Producer prices, including energy, rose at 0.2%, also about 0.1% higher than expected and last month's numbers.
CPI numbers showed a basket of consumer prices in the United States fell for a third straight month to 3.0% in June from 3.3% in May of 2024. Core consumer prices in the US increased by 3.3% in June of 2024 over the same month in the previous year, down from 3.4% in May. Consumer prices fell about 0.1%, leading to hope that the Fed may lower interest rates.
Initial jobless claims also came out, right at the prescribed 222,000 Powell as he spoke of in front of the Senate Tuesday and Wednesday, where he said that was the average job growth for the past six months. Powell said he would like more data supporting rate cuts, but the Fed keeps its options open.
"We know that reducing policy restraint too soon or too much could stall or even reverse the progress we have seen on inflation," Powell said. "In light of the progress made both in lowering inflation and in cooling the labor market over the past two years, elevated inflation is not the only risk we face."
Powell pointed to rising unemployment numbers over the past three months as an example of a cooling market. He said that, compared to two years ago, the labor market had cooled significantly to just above where it sat in 2019, and that inflation was not the Fed's only concern.
"Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment," Powell said.
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