After a crazy week of economic data and earnings — which included the CPI, PPI, fresh labor market data, and surprisingly strong earnings from cloud giant Oracle — investors feel that today calls for rest and relaxation. The Federal Reserve interest-rate cut is now considered a lock, several stock benchmarks are at records, and the analysts can finally say "mission accomplished." (Even if it might be a bit presumptive.)
Keeping investor attention are the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment data and a few IPOs of note. The Preliminary UM Sentiment data for September, reported this morning, show future expectations dipped but current expectations saw a small bump in the initial readout for the month. That's interesting considering the sorry state of the labor market, which is commanding greater importance in the Fed's dual mandate than inflation. Notably, Americans' inflation expectations also crept up.
Friday Reading
In IPO-related news, we're waiting for the opening trade from crypto exchange Gemini Space Station, transit contractor Via Transportation, and Blackstone-backed Legence, among others. All three are indicated to the upside this morning. IPOs like Klarna and Figure, which launched earlier this week, were well-received and saw healthy demand from the market, stirring up hope for these Friday debuts.
In any case, stock benchmarks are going in different directions. The Nasdaq (+0.44%) is up, the S&P 500 (+0.01%) is flat, and the Dow (-0.44%) and Russell 2000 (-0.77%) are down. If the Nasdaq and S&P were to keep that up, they would be on track for record closes. For the Nasdaq, it would be its sixth in a row. That would be an amazing showing, all things considered.
TurboTax Via TheStreet
-- Noah Weidner, markets reporter
