Stock Market Today: S&P 500 in best week of 2024 as revived bulls resume march

Investing.com– The S&P 500 closer higher Friday, notching its best week this year as easing fears over the economic triggered a wave of dip buying in stocks following the recent market turmoil.

At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), gained 96 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 rose 0.2%, and added 0.2%.

Upbeat economic data continue ahead of Jackson Hole

The survey data released Friday showed that consumer sentiment rebounded in August for the first time since August, cooling further worries about the economy.“

Recent data has shown that sentiment is being dragged down by lower income households, likely as a consequence of continued sticky inflation,” Jefferies said in a Friday note.

Consumer expectations about inflation over the next year and five-to-ten years were also unchanged at 2.9% and 3%, respectively, firming expectations the Fed’s policies are working just as focus shifts to Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s speech next week at Jackson Hole, Wym.“

We expect Chair Powell will lay out a case for an orderly withdrawal of monetary policy restrictiveness in a speech at Jackson Hole the morning of Friday, August 23, and by orderly, we mean 25 bp rate cuts, rather than 50 bp,” economists at UBS said in a recent note.

Ford to recall 85,000 SUVs, Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:) in US agreement

In corporate news, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:) stock rose 0.5% even as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday the auto giant is recalling about 85,000 Explorer SUVs equipped with the Police Interceptor Utility package over concerns of an engine fire.

Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) stock fell 1 % despite the semiconductor company signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with the U.S. Department of Commerce to receiving funding of $1.6B as part of the CHIPS Act.

The agreement outlines up to $1.6 billion in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to support the construction of three 300mm semiconductor wafer fabs in Texas and Utah.

Applied materials drops despite Q3 beat; Rocket Lab makes progress toward launch

Applied materials cut losses to close less than 1% lower as the chip equipment maker late Thursday delivered upbeat earnings guidance after fiscal third-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates, driven by ongoing growth in China despite ongoing regulatory headwinds.

Still, UBS flagged the concerns that the company is “fundamentally still the most reliant on mature node demand and this is where spending is the most over-heated.”

Rocket Lab jumped more than 16% after the space company packed and shipped two spacecrafts destined for Mars to Cap Canaveral, marking its first mission to another planet. The twin spacecraft, set for launch next month, will support NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission.

Harris lays out economic agenda in first major policy address

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday outlined her economic agenda focused on tax cuts, affordable housing and lower food prices that the Democratic presidential nominee believes will create opportunities for the middle class.

The speech comes ahead of Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-21, when Harris has the opportunity to build on her momentum by introducing herself and expanding on her policies to win over uncommitted voters.

Harris now has a 2.8-point lead over Trump in the latest average of national polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight.

(Ambar Warrick and Peter Nurse contributed to this article.)