WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Extending the upward trend seen over the past several sessions, stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. The major averages are moving to the upside for the sixth consecutive session and have reached new record intraday highs.
Currently, the Dow is up 369.12 points or 0.8 percent at 46,888.84 and the S&P 500 is up 27.83 points or 0.4 percent at 6,743.18. The tech-heavy Nasdaq briefly dipped into negative territory in early trading but is also currently up 46.63 points or 0.2 percent at 22,890.68.
Stocks continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has lifted the major averages to new record highs despite the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
Traders seem to have shrugged off concerns about the economic impact of the shutdown even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned it could hurt U.S. economic growth.
'This isn't the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,' Bessent said in an interview with CNBC 'Squawk Box.' 'We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.'
While the shutdown has led to the indefinite delay of key U.S. economic data, including the morning's closely watched monthly jobs report, weak data from non-government sources may have increased confidence the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the coming months.
After payroll processor ADP released a report earlier this week showing an unexpected decrease in private sector employment, the Institute for Supply Management released a report this morning showing a bigger than expected decline by its reading on service sector activity.
The ISM said its services PMI fell to 50.0 in September from 52.0 in August, with a reading of 50.0 serving as the breakeven point between expansion and contraction. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 51.7.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 97.8 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point in October and an 85.8 percent chance of another quarter point rate cut in December.
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index jumping by 2.4 percent to a record intraday high.
Significant strength is also visible among healthcare stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index. The index has reached its best intraday level in almost seven months.
Pharmaceutical, utilities and transportation stocks are also seeing notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. While Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.9 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, European stocks have moved mostly higher on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent, although the German DAX Index has bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved back to the downside after ending the previous session modestly higher. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.3 basis points at 4.113 percent.
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