Stocks were mixed Friday as investors weighed this week's corporate earning and inflation readings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 100 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1% and 0.6% lower, respectively.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their second straight week of losses, marking the first time that streak has been set by the tech-heavy Nasdaq since December 2022. The Dow, however, rose for the week, increase more than 0.5%.
Driving market moves, July's producer price index rose by a more-than-expected 0.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Last month's reading marks the biggest monthly gain since January and an increase from June's unchanged print. Annually, headline PPI rose 0.8%. Excluding food and energy prices, core PPI also increase 0.3% month-to-month and 2.4% at an annual clip.
The PPI release comes just a day after July's softer-than-expected consumer price index reading, with headline and core month-over-month readings rising 0.2%. Moveover, the CPI report's annual reading of 3.2% was less than Wall Street anticipated, boosting sentiment for easing inflation and the possible near-term end of the Federal Reserve's hawkish monetary policy.
UBS Global Wealth Management's Solita Marcelli wrote in a note that July's CPI report signals that the Fed could end its rate hiking campaign in a the near-term.
"US inflation data indicated a further cooling of price pressures in July, adding to optimism that the Federal Reserve may be able to call time on rate rises for the cycle," Marcelli said, adding that "while the continued downward trend in inflation should support equity market sentiment, a rosy economic outlook was already priced into stocks."
In other economic news, consumer sentiment ticked slightly lower so far in August, according to the University of Michigan's latest survey reading. August's preliminary reading came in at 71.2, down slightly from July's print of 71.6. When it comes to inflation, expectations were little changed with the one-year outlook index standing at 3.3% and the five-year at 2.9% -- both down 0.1 percentage point from July.
Consumer sentiment was essentially unchanged from July, with small offsetting increases and decreases within the index," said Joanne Hsu, director of Surveys of Consumers, in a statement. "Sentiment is now about 42% above the all-time historic low reached in June of 2022 and is approaching the historical average reading of 86. In general, consumers perceived few material differences in the economic environment from last month, but they saw substantial improvements relative to just three months ago."
Elsewhere, the Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on whether to approve Cathie Wood's Ark21Shares Bitcoin ETF as its waiting on comments on an amendment to the application, the regulatory said Friday. The fund is seen as the first bitcoin ETF for a potential launch, though the regulatory could approve other funds before Ark.
Next week will host major earnings reports for retail, including results from Home Depot
