STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the Dow dropping about six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 closing essentially flat and the Nasdaq gaining more than four-tenths of a percent to record another record closing high.
Investors are laser-focused on the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting next week, which concludes on Wednesday. Traders expect the central bank to cut interest rates by 25 basis points after recent data showed longstanding weakness in hiring and easing inflation concerns.
The anticipated rate cut is just one catalyst that has driven Wall Street's main indexes to multiple recent record highs, says Anna Rathbun, founder & CEO of Grenadilla Advisory.
“This week, we had an IPO (Initial Public Offering) of a name that a lot of people know, Klarna, and that has definitely caused a lot of excitement. There was news about Oracle and OpenAI, and AI demand. All of this has generated or rejuvenated this excitement around AI. So, tech continues to go up and drive the entire markets. The rest of the markets seem to be on standby as to what may happen next week with the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve). And I think they're a lot more sensitive to what will happen to rates for the rest of the year.”
Friday's notable stock moves included Microsoft, which rose nearly 2% after the technology giant avoided a possible hefty EU antitrust fine by offering customers reduced prices for Office products excluding Teams.
Shares of Tesla jumped nearly seven-and-a-half percent after its board chair dismissed concerns that CEO Elon Musk's political activity had hurt sales at the EV maker and said the billionaire was “front and center” at the company after several months as part of the Trump administration.
With Friday's surge, Tesla shares remain down 2% in 2025.
And shares of Warner Bros Discovery jumped 17%, extending a surge from Wednesday, when a source said that Paramount Skydance was preparing a bid for the struggling media company.
