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Wall Street Keeps Rising 05/22 15:23
The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew wider Friday as
U.S. stocks rose to the finish of their eighth straight winning week, the best
such streak since 2023.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew
wider Friday as U.S. stocks rose to the finish of their eighth straight winning
week, the best such streak since 2023. That's even though a survey showed U.S.
consumers are feeling even worse about the economy.
The S&P 500 added 0.4% and pulled closer to its all-time high set in the
middle of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294 points, or 0.6%,
and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%.
Ross Stores helped drive the market and rose 8.1% after the off-price
retailer reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that easily cleared
analysts' expectations. CEO Jim Conroy said it saw strong customer traffic
through the three months, and the company may have benefited from households
spending their tax refunds.
Estee Lauder jumped 11.9% after saying it was no longer considering a
possible merger with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and beauty products company.
Workday rose 5.2%, and Zoom Communications jumped 9.2% after both delivered
better profit reports for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
They're the latest companies to top analysts' expectations for earnings for
the start of 2026, and the cavalcade of such reports has helped U.S. stocks
remain near their records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate
profits over the long term.
The strength is coming even after a survey of U.S. consumers by the
University of Michigan found sentiment fell to a record low, piercing below a
bottom in 2022 when inflation peaked above 9%. Households are feeling worried
about how bad inflation is now because of expensive oil created by the war with
Iran.
U.S. consumers are forecasting inflation will worsen to 4.8% in the coming
12 months, up from a forecast of 4.7% last month, according to the survey. In
the longer run, their forecasts for inflation jumped to 3.9% from 3.5% last
month. Such rising expectations are a concern for economists because they can
drive behavior that creates a vicious cycle that makes inflation worse.
Sentiment dropped in particular for lower-income consumers who are least
able to absorb higher costs for essentials, and it fell for Republicans as
well, according to the survey.
Helping to keep uncertainty high have been continued swings for oil prices.
They yo-yoed again Friday, like they did through the week on uncertainty about
when the United States and Iran may find a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The closure has prevented oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf and
delivering crude to customers worldwide.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil to be delivered in August added
0.7% to settle at $100.21 after erasing an earlier decline.
Worries about inflation staying high have pushed bond yields higher
worldwide, threatening to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all
kinds of other investments. High yields have already forced the average
long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level since last summer, and
they could curtail companies' borrowing to build the AI data centers that have
supported the U.S. economy's growth recently.
Yields had been down Friday morning, offering some relief, before wavering
after oil prices erased their losses and the survey on consumer sentiment
showed worsening inflation expectations.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.56% from 4.57% late
Thursday, but it remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war.
Worries about inflation have climbed so high that traders on Wall Street
have eliminated bets that the Federal Reserve will resume its cuts to interest
rates later this year. Lower rates would give the economy a boost, but they
could also worsen inflation.
An important member of the Fed, Gov. Christopher Waller, said in a speech
Friday, "If I believe inflation expectations start to become unanchored, I
would not hesitate to support an increase in the target range for the federal
funds rate."
But he also said that is not the case now in his speech titled "Policy Risks
Have Changed." Instead, he said it "is time to simply sit and watch how the
conflict and the data evolve."
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across Europe and Asia.
Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% to another record after a report showed
inflation hitting a four-year low in April, at 1.4%, despite higher prices for
oil and gas due to the war.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 27.75 points to 7,473.47. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 294.04 to 50,579.70, and the Nasdaq composite added
50.87 to 26,343.97.
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