A Trump banner hangs on the side of The Heritage Foundation ahead of the Inauguration on January 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance will be sworn in on January 20. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
WASHINGTON, United States — Wall Street stocks climbed Friday as investors digested US inflation data this week that suggested price pressures might be easing, while hopes for more interest rate cuts picked up.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7 percent to 43,453.04, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index added 0.8 percent to 5,986.63.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.4 percent to 19,615.37.
“The latest inflation data showed us that inflation is not currently a threat,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
This gives the Federal Reserve “room to keep rates relatively low or not raise rates anytime soon,” he added.
On Wednesday, a measure of underlying consumer inflation came in lower than analysts’ expected.
The consumer price index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.2 percent on a monthly basis in December, government data showed, less than anticipated.
The producer price index, a measure of wholesale costs, also rose 0.2 percent last month, below consensus estimates.
Sarhan added on Friday that GDP figures out of China in the last 24 hours showed that the world’s second biggest economy matched growth expectations of around five percent.
But looking ahead, he noted there is “a lot of uncertainty, specifically with respect to the incoming administration and incoming policies.”
US President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week.