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On Friday, the S&P 500 Index closed up +0.01%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index rose +0.51%, while the Nasdaq 100 Index fell -0.43%. The 10-year T-note yield increased by 4 basis points to 4.12%, influenced by comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan regarding the potential for no further interest rate cuts. Additionally, the ISM services index dropped to a 4-month low of 50.0, while the ISM services price paid sub-index unexpectedly rose to 69.4, further impacting market sentiment.
The ongoing U.S. government shutdown, now in its third day, may lead to delays in the release of key economic reports, impacting over 640,000 federal workers according to Bloomberg Economics. The situation could push the unemployment rate up to 4.7%. In corporate earnings news, over 22% of S&P 500 companies have indicated that they expect Q3 earnings to exceed analysts’ predictions, with expected growth at +6.9%.
Chipmakers and AI-infrastructure stocks faced losses, especially within the Nasdaq 100, with notable declines from KLA Corp (-3%), Applied Materials (-2%), and a -7% drop for Palantir Technologies. Meanwhile, firms like Humana and Centene experienced significant gains, closing up over 10% and 5% respectively, after reaffirming their earnings guidance.
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