WALL ST RANGE-BOUND WITH WEEKLY GAINS IN SIGHT ON RATE-CUT HOPES
Wall Street's main indexes were little changed on Friday as investors took a breather from the week's rally driven by growing expectations of U.S. interest-rate cuts this year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on course for a fourth straight week of gains, while the blue-chip Dow was on track for its fifth weekly advance, supported by strong quarterly results and slowing inflation data that has bolstered the case for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
All three main indexes touched record highs on Thursday and the Dow briefly crossed the 40,000 milestone, before reversing gains and closing in the red. Traders currently see a 68% chance of the first rate cut in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, with energy shares up 0.7% and leading gains.
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