Wall St hits intraday record highs as rate-cut hopes drive momentum

By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta (Reuters) – Wall Street's main indexes hit intraday record highs on Friday as optimism about an imminent interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve boosted sentiment in the final trading session of a week that saw volatility due to the U.S. government shutdown. The federal shutdown, which began on Wednesday, has disrupted the flow of critical economic data, including the highly anticipated nonfarm payrolls report that was originally scheduled for release on Friday. It has now been postponed, leaving investors to rely on other indicators that suggest a softening in the labor market, keeping bets on an impending rate cut alive. Coupled with the strength in the technology sector, the optimism has so far helped investors look past the federal impasse. The three main indexes are on track to notch weekly gains if the current levels hold. "The market's focused on a couple of different things instead of the shutdown. One is the AI optimism that we've seen over recent days, and then the data that came out this week is pretty supportive of the Fed being able to cut rates," said Veronica Willis, global investment strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in New York. At 10:09 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 274.53 points, or 0.59%, to 46,794.89, the S&P 500 gained 12.09 points, or 0.18%, to 6,727.44, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 7.27 points, or 0.03%, to 22,836.64. The S&P 500 tech sector rose 0.2%. Healthcare stocks gained 1.3%, adding to the week's rally. Humana and Danaher added 5.6% and 4.2%, respectively, and were among the top performers on the benchmark index. Communication services shares on the S&P 500 fell 0.9%, dragged by losses in Meta Platforms and Alphabet, which were down 1.2% and 1.4%, respectively. The losses also weighed on the Nasdaq. A gain in banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, which rose 0.5% and 1%, respectively, boosted the Dow. Meanwhile, BofA Global Research forecast on Friday that the Fed would deliver its next interest-rate cut in October instead of December, citing soft labor market data. However, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was hesitant to commit to a series of rate cuts, with inflation still running above the central bank's 2% target. Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed non-manufacturing activity stood at 50 last month, compared with an estimate of 51.7, according to economists polled by Reuters, capping some early gains. New York Fed President John Williams said central banks needed to be aware that unpredictable changes were inevitable and should strategize to operate in those environments. Investors will parse comments from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson later in the day. In stocks, Applied Materials fell 2.9% after the chip-equipment maker forecast a $600 million hit to fiscal 2026 revenue on broader semiconductor export curbs. Shares of USA Rare Earth jumped 19.6% after CEO Barbara Humpton told CNBC the company was "in close communication" with the White House. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.59-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.43-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 17 new lows. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Pooja Desai)

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