Rev. Al Sharpton leads Wall Street protest against Trump policies
Rev. Al Sharpton led hundreds in a Wall Street march to protest Trump policies and economic injustice.
- Apple disappointed markets during its ‘Awe Dropping' event unveiling the iPhone 17, with shares sliding 3.2%.
- August brought a fresh increase in annual inflation, which rose to 2.9%, the highest level since January.
Wall Street extended its record-breaking run the week of Sept. 8, driven by surging investor confidence in future Federal Reserve rate cuts and expectations of robust growth by AI-driven companies.
Despite rising inflation and growing cracks in the labor market, traders are placing firm bets on a series of lower interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday, Sept. 11, at a record 46,108.
August brought a fresh increase in annual inflation, which rose to 2.9%, the highest level since January. However, a concurrent rise in jobless claims — 263,000 in the first week of September — marked the worst weekly number since October 2021. After a flat August payrolls report, it's becoming clear the labor market is losing steam.
Markets are now fully pricing in a 25-basis-point rate cut at the Fed’s upcoming Sept. 17 meeting, with speculators already eyeing additional cuts in October and December.
Oracle Corp. took the crown as the week’s top-performing S&P 500 stock. The Austin-based software company led by CEO Larry Ellison posted weaker-than-expected earnings and revenue for the quarter, but markets shrugged that off in favor of a surprise boom in cloud AI orders.
The stock jumped 36% in a single session on Wednesday, Oracle’s best daily rally since December 1992. Ellison personally reaped the rewards. His net worth spiked by $100 billion in just one day, briefly overtaking Elon Musk as the world’s richest man — albeit for a few hours.
Apple disappointed markets during its “Awe Dropping” event unveiling the iPhone 17, with shares sliding 3.2% — the stock’s worst day since May. Investors appeared underwhelmed by the lack of breakthrough features in the new phone.
Ford Motor Co. saw its stock rise following the launch of a new global marketing campaign titled “Ready, Set, Ford.”
The campaign aims to reposition Ford as a lifestyle brand and shine a light on its commercial vehicle and motorsport segments, which it says are underappreciated.
Ford shares reacted positively to the campaign. Year-to-date, the stock is up 18%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 5 percentage points. That’s a rare beat for the automaker, which has underperformed the broader market in 11 of the past 12 years, with the exception of its 2021 rally.
Benzinga is a financial news and data company headquartered in Detroit.
