Wall Street heads for records following an encouraging update on inflation

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are heading for records on Friday after un update on inflation came in a bit less painful than feared.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and was on track to top its all-time high, which was set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 267 points, or 0.6%, and was likewise heading for its own record, while the Nasdaq composite was up 1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.

The data on inflation is encouraging because it could mean less pain for lower- and middle-income households struggling with still-high increases in prices every month. Even more importantly for Wall Street, it could also clear the way for the Federal Reserve to continue cutting interest rates in hopes of giving a boost to the slowing job market.

The Fed just cut its main interest rate last month for the first time this year, but it’s been hesitant to promise more relief because lower interest rates can make inflation worse, beyond goosing the economy and prices for investments.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market as traders upped bets to a near certainty that the Fed will cut rates at its next two meetings, including one next week.

“Right now, Fed officials are more concerned about the labor market than about inflation,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Without any evidence to the contrary, there’s nothing to really change their minds about cutting.”

Stocks have been shaky in recent weeks following a tremendous rally of 35% for the S&P 500 from a low in April. Criticism has climbed that stocks became too expensive after their prices rose so much faster than corporate profits. Worries also flared about potentially bad loans sitting on banks’ balance sheets following a long period of calm that may have encouraged risk-taking. And President Donald Trump rattled markets after threatening much higher tariffs on China, the world’s second-largest economy.

But stocks have rebounded each time, only to push higher. Several banks have given encouraging updates on their balance sheets, while Trump is set to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, at a conference next week.

And most big U.S. companies are reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected, as is usually the case.

Intel rallied 5.3% Friday after reporting profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. CEO Lip-Bu Tan credited the artificial-intelligence boom with “accelerating demand for compute and creating attractive opportunities.”

Ford Motor revved 7.7% higher after the automaker likewise topped analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. The company said its business is running at the high end of the forecasted range it had given for financial performance this year in February.

Procter & Gamble’s profit also beat analysts’ forecasts, despite what CEO Jon Moeller called “a challenging consumer and geopolitical environment.” The stock of the company behind the Charmin, Oral-B and Pampers brands rose 2.1%.

They helped offset a drop for Newmont Mining, which fell 7.1% even though it also reported a stronger profit than expected. The https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101419140-11167246 miner’s stock came into the day with a stunning gain of nearly 139%, riding the momentum of the soaring price of https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101419140-11167246.

But https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101419140-11167246’s superstar run has stalled recently, and a slip on Friday had it on track for a third drop in the last four days after setting its latest record.

Many of the same factors that drew buyers to https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101419140-11167246 this year are still there, including concerns about the mountains of debt that the U.S. and other governments worldwide are amassing. The U.S. government’s gross national debt topped $38 trillion this week, and the worry is that a continued acceleration will only worsen inflation.

But no investment’s price goes up forever, and criticism had been growing that https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101419140-11167246’s price had gone too far, too fast after it shot up even more than the U.S. stock market. https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101419140-11167246’s price is still up more than 50% for the year so far.

In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly rose across Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.4% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 3.99% from 4.01% late Thursday.

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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.