Wall Street coasts to the finish of its latest record-setting week

Trader Michael Milano works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK — Wall Street tacked on some more gains Friday as it glided to the finish of its latest record-setting week.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent to close out its sixth winning week in the last seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 172 points, or 0.4 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7 per cent.

All three hit all-time highs for a second straight day. They’ve been rallying on expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates in order to give the economy a boost after the central bank lowered them for the first time this year on Wednesday.

FedEx helped lift the market after delivering stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It rose 2.3 per cent, thanks in part to strength for its domestic package business.

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Newmont rallied 4.3 per cent after the gold miner sold its investment in Canada’s Orla Mining for $439 million. It added to a stellar run, and Newmont’s stock has more than doubled so far this year as the price of gold has shot to records.

Gold has benefited from expectations for lower interest rates, along with worries about high inflation and the potential that mountains of debt for the U.S. and other governments could make their currencies worth less.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Lennar, which dropped 4.2 per cent after the homebuilder reported weaker revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected.

Executive Chairman Stuart Miller pointed to “the continued pressures of today’s housing market” and said Lennar had to offer additional incentives to entice customers to buy homes, which dragged down the average sales price.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.40 points to 6,664.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 172.85 to 46,315.27, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 160.75 to 22,631.48.

If the Fed does keep cutting interest rates, that could give the struggling housing market a boost, and mortgage rates have already come down in expectation of a rate-cutting campaign.

Lower rates could likewise tamp down widespread criticism that the U.S. stock market has become too expensive after prices rose so quickly. But expectations have grown so strong for coming cuts to rates that the stock market may be set for a sharp drop if the Fed does not cut as much as traders expect.

Fed officials did indicate earlier this week that they’re likely to deliver more cuts to rates this year and next. They’re hoping to give support to the job market, which has slowed and made it more difficult for U.S. workers to find new positions.

But Fed Chair Jerome Powell also warned Wednesday that the central bank is in a precarious position and may have to change course quickly. That’s because the economy is in an unusual situation where inflation is remaining stubbornly high at the same time that the job market is slowing. And President Donald Trump’s tariffs are threatening to push inflation higher, at least temporarily.

The Fed is in charge of fixing both high inflation and a weak job market, but it has only one tool to do so. And helping one by moving interest rates often hurts the other in the short term.

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Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, warned that the stock market could become shakier following its recent glide to records as “the economy slows, tariff impacts arrive piecemeal and political uncertainties continue.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly ticked lower in Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 per cent after the Bank of Japan said it will sell some of its massive trove of Japanese stock funds. It also held interest rates steady.

Chinese indexes finished mixed ahead of a phone call between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping. After the call ended, the U.S. president called it productive. The leaders of the world’s two largest economies agreed to meet at a regional summit taking place in South Korea at the end of October.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.12 per cent from 4.11 per cent late Thursday.

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Stan Choe, The Associated Press. AP Writers Matt Ott and Teresa Cerojano contributed.