The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed north of 47,000 for the first time on Friday after Wall Street finally got a taste of government data.
The blue-chip index rose 472 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 rose 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2%. All three indexes finished the week with record closing highs.
The Dow hit its second thousand-point milestone of 2025 after crossing the 46,000 threshold 31 trading days ago, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P also notched its best week since Aug. 8.
The September reading of the consumer price index, released early Friday, drove the session’s gains. Both the headline and core CPI rose at a 3% annual rate, slightly lower than economists’ expectations for both to grow at a 3.1% annual rate.
“After weeks without any official economic data due to the government shutdown, Friday’s inflation data did little to change expectations for the Fed’s rate cut path, with price increases coming in cooler than expected and reinforcing expectations that the Fed will cut rates next week and again in December in response to a weakening labor market,” Joe Mazzola, head of trading and a derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab.
Odds of at least a half-point in rate cuts through December hit 96.9%, compared to 91.1% prior to the report, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Odds of just one quarter-point cut dropped to 3.1% from 8.8%.
The stock market rally’s next big test will be Big Tech earnings in the week ahead: Five of the Magnificent Seven members will headline a packed slate of quarterly reports. Wall Street will want to see such tech titans are still spending big on artificial intelligence efforts.