Stocks end sharply higher after Powell opens door to rate cut in Jackson Hole
The U.S. stock market closed sharply higher Friday, as...
The U.S. stock market closed sharply higher Friday, as investors cheered the potential for interest rate cuts following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.9%, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.9%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. The S&P 500 ended slightly below its all-time closing high of 6,468.54 on Aug. 14, with Friday’s stock-market rally lifting the index to a modest gain for the week.
Powell’s Jackson Hole speech on monetary policy sparked optimism on Wall Street that the Fed may cut its benchmark interest rate at its policy meeting in September. Ahead of his Friday speech, the S&P 500 had stumbled this week as investors rotated out of Big Tech stocks.
The S&P 500 finished Friday with a weekly gain of 0.3%, while the Dow advanced 1.5% for the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a weekly loss of 0.6%, the preliminary FactSet data show.
Strong Asian demand and West Texas Intermediate's discount to Middle...
Strong Asian demand and West Texas Intermediate's discount to Middle Eastern grades are fueling a rebound in US crude exports, which are on track to exceed 4 million barrels per day in August and September, the most since the beginning of the year. After a summer of heavy refinery runs, maintenance downtime and efforts to avoid Texas' year-end ad valorem tax are expected to keep shipments to Asia firm through October.
Texas AI Data Center Could House Largest US Nuclear Site
A massive AI data center project in the Texas Panhandle could house the...
A massive AI data center project in the Texas Panhandle could house the nation’s largest nuclear power site.
Data center developer Fermi America and Westinghouse are finalizing a license application to install four nuclear reactors at a project near Amarillo, Texas. The companies plan to build four AP1000 units on the campus, Fermi announced on Aug. 21.
If built, the project would be the largest nuclear power site in the U.S.
Fermi’s announcement did not include a timeline or cost estimate. A recent installation of two AP1000 units near Augusta, Georgia, spent more than 10 years in development and cost more than $30 billion.
Jay Powell won’t have to tap a glass with a knife to get everyone’s...
Jay Powell won’t have to tap a glass with a knife to get everyone’s attention before his highly anticipated speech at the Fed’s annual economic symposium today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Wall Street will dissect every sound bite and eyebrow twitch for hints about whether the Fed intends to slash interest rates next month. But that’s far from the only reason why his wonkfest address will hit different this year. It’s all but certain to be Powell’s last Jackson Hole speech as Fed chair, since his term ends next spring.
Powell takes the podium amid internal divisions at the Fed over interest rates as a cooling job market and the threat of inflation induced by President Trump’s tariffs complicate the central bank’s decision on rates.
The odds of a rate cut currently stand at 74% ahead of Powell’s speech, down from 92% last week, per the FedWatch tool that investors use to bet on interest rate moves.
NY appeals court throws out $500 million fraud penalty against Trump
President Trump will no longer have to pay the half-billion-dollar judgment...
President Trump will no longer have to pay the half-billion-dollar judgment from his civil business fraud trial after a New York court tossed the massive fine. “While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half-billion-dollar award to the State,” Justice Peter Moulton wrote in a decision that sharply divided the court. Trump immediately took to social media to declare “TOTAL VICTORY.” Though it threw out the huge financial penalty, the court upheld the fraud ruling, which found last year that the president had inflated his net worth in order to secure better loan terms.
