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DOW CLOSES STRONGEST ON WALL STREET
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI closed up 0.3% on Friday notching a record closing high while the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX dipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell 0.4% with some pressure from technology stocks.
The day's main event of the day was the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index reading for August. It showed slowing inflation in August, buttressing arguments that Federal Reserve officials used in defense of their decision to lower interest rates by half of a percentage point last week.
The data also prompted traders to bet the U.S. central bank will continue a fast pace of rate cuts as price pressures ease towards its 2% target.
The Dow, which has now registered record closing highs in five of the last seven sessions, saw its biggest percentage gain on Friday from Chevron Corp CVX.N, which ended up 2.5%. The S&P 500 energy index in turn was the biggest gainer among benchmark's 11 major industy sectors, adding 2%.
Technology .SPLRCT was the benchmark index's biggest losing sector, finishing off almost 1% with its biggest percentage declines from Dell DELL.N and HP Inc HPQ.N.
Also weighing on technology was the Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX, which ended down 1.8%, giving up some ground after rallying in the previous 4 sessions. The chip index notched an 4.3% gain for the week.
The Dow and S&P 500 registered their third straight week of gains with both adding about 0.6% for the week while the Nasdaq rose about 1%.
Here is your closing snapshot:
(Sinéad Carew)
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FOR FRIDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:
Q3 US EARNINGS GROWTH SEEN AT 5.3% AS END OF QUARTER NEARS - CLICK HERE
INVESTING WITH U.S. ELECTION SCENARIOS IN MIND - CLICK HERE
INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS PITCH TENTS IN THE NEUTRAL CAMP - AAII - CLICK HERE
A PCE OF CAKE: FRIDAY DATA ROUNDUP - CLICK HERE
DOW LEADS WALL STREET GAINS WITH TECH WEIGHING ON NASDAQ - CLICK HERE
$5.8 BILLION BITCOIN OPTIONS EXPIRY AHEAD - CLICK HERE
U.S. STOCK FUTURES PUSH SLIGHTLY HIGHER AFTER PCE - CLICK HERE
COULD CHINA'S STIMULUS HELP FRENCH STOCKS? - CLICK HERE
JAPAN'S ISHIBA VICTORY CLEARS WAY FOR BOJ RATE HIKES - CLICK HERE
CHINA STIMULUS COULD BE 'GAME CHANGER' FOR RISK ASSETS - UBS - CLICK HERE
STOXX 600 HITS RECORD HIGH - CLICK HERE
EUROPEAN FUTURES STEADY - CLICK HERE
BEIJING PULLS OUT THE POLICY STOPS - CLICK HERE