Damian J. Troise, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks rose in Friday’s afternoon trading on Wall Street, bringing the market back on track for its third week’s profits in the last four.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and was hovering around that record. The benchmark index is on track to wipe out losses from last week’s slide.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 223 points (0.5%) as of 1:24pm Eastern. Nasdaq added 0.8% to its all-time high set a day ago.
Technology companies had high stock prices and did a lot of heavy stuff for the market. Nvidia rose 0.6% and Apple rose 4.3%.
Gilead Science jumped to 9% in one of its greatest profits. It easily beats analyst forecasts, while also reporting financial results that raised annual revenue forecasts. Expedia Group also rose 2.7% after reporting financial results encouraging.
They are one of the last big batches of companies within the S&P 500, reporting primarily strong financial results for the second quarter. Still, many warn that current tariffs can be reduced to their profits.
The main focus throughout the week was President Donald Trump’s trade war and the potential impact on the US economy and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.
Trump began impose higher import taxes on dozens of countries on Thursday. The economic unknown path amid unpredictable tariff policy was an important reason for the Fed to stabilize benchmark profits.
But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is seeing increased pressure from Trump to cut interest rates. Policy decisions are not made solely by the Fed chair. All 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee vote for interest rate changes.
Trump has the opportunity to take more control over the Fed after nominated Stephen Milan to a vacant seat on the federal government’s board. Milan is Trump’s top economic adviser and is an almost certain vote to support low interest rates.
The Fed’s final decision to stabilize interest rates included two votes to lower interest rates. The next meeting will be in September, with Wall Street overwhelmingly betting that the central bank will cut by a quarter point.
The Ministry of Finance is bordered higher. The 2010 Treasury yield rose to 4.28% from 4.25% in the second half on Thursday. Treasury yields over the two-year period, which track closer expectations for the Fed’s action, rose from 3.73% to 3.75% in the second half of Thursday.
Expectations for interest rate cuts could weaken the economy following a string of signals last week. This included a report showing that inflation rates increased in June and that US employers put the brakes on adoption in July.
Both are important concerns for the Fed, seeking to cool inflation down to a target rate of 2% while fulfilling its “full employment” mission.
Lower interest rates can increase the economy and investment prices, but the downside is that they can also increase inflation. Concerns about reheating inflation may be hidden by concerns about weakening the job market.
Wall Street and the Fed will gain more insight into the temperature and economy of inflation next week. The government will release updates on inflation at both the consumer and wholesale levels, along with reports on retail sales.
“We believe that equities remain supported within a robust fundamental, but the fresh headlines for next week may challenge the sentiment of investors vulnerable to tariffs, economic and geopolitical risks,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, Global Investment Director and Global Equity Director at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Asian markets have been closed almost low, except in Tokyo after Japan’s major trade envoy said they agreed to fix issues with tariffs applied to exports to the US.
The European markets were mixed.
Original issue: August 8, 2025 10:30am EDT
