Stan Cho, The Associated Press
15 minutes ago
FILE – The “Fearless Girl” statue stands at the New York Stock Exchange, July 2, 2024. Global stock markets were mixed on Friday, July 12, 2024, and the Japanese yen gave up some of its gains as the latest U.S. inflation reading led Wall Street to believe interest rate cuts could come as early as September. (Associated Press/Peter Morgan, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are rising Friday after big bank profits and mixed signs on inflation.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% at the open of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 143 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%.
Wells Fargo shares fell 7% even though the San Francisco-based bank reported profit for its latest quarter that beat analysts’ expectations. The bank said a key underlying measure of profit was lower than a year ago and that net interest income was likely to be at the lower half of its full-year forecast range.
Meanwhile, Bank of New York Mellon Co. rose 2.9% after reporting better-than-expected earnings, and fastener distributor Fastenal Inc. rose 4.3%, the biggest gain in the S&P 500 index, after its spring earnings report showed profits in line with expectations.
The bond market was Wall Street’s most active this week, with Treasury yields fluctuating sharply following the latest inflation report, which showed wholesale inflation rose more than economists expected last month, a disappointment following a report Thursday that showed consumer-level inflation rose more than expected last month.
But after some initial ups and downs, Treasury yields have calmed down somewhat and remained lower than Thursday’s closing price.
“It’s going to take some time to know if yesterday’s numbers were an anomaly or if today’s numbers are an anomaly,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at Morgan Stanley E-Trade.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.23% after the inflation report but then eased back to settle at 4.20%, down from Thursday’s close of 4.21%.
The yield on the two-year note, which moved in line with expectations, fell slightly to 4.48% from Thursday’s close of 4.51%.
Traders still see a 96% chance that inflation will slow enough for the Federal Reserve to start cutting its key interest rate in September, according to data from CME Group. Wall Street is banking on a cut to the Fed’s key interest rate, which is at its highest level in more than two decades.
Lower rates would ease pressures that have built up in the economy from the high costs of borrowing on credit cards to buy homes, cars and everything else. But Fed officials have said they want to see “better data” on inflation before taking any action.
Among overseas stock markets, Japan’s Nikkei stock average retreated slightly from its recent record gains, falling 2.4%, but is still up more than 23% so far this year.
Index figures were mixed in other Asian countries, but rose in much of Europe.
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AP writers Matt Ott and Jimmo Zhong contributed.
