Investors were looking for more signs of cooling inflation and it was delivered. Before the open, the core PCE (personal consumption expenditures price index), the Federal Reserve Board’s more favored indicator, increased only 0.3% for the month.
That brings the core PCE yearly inflation to 4.6%, though the headline number for the month was 3.8%, which is about half of peak inflation.
It was evident by the premarket trading action that investors were anticipating a good print. Ahead of the number, the index was already higher by nearly 20 handles. There was not even a flinch to the downside as the index galloped higher into the opening of the regular session.
Without any significant pullbacks, the index marched on to make a new high for the year. In the final five minutes, profit takers for the day, month and quarter came in and nudged the index off the high for the session.
The end result for the day was a gain of 52.50 handles, a weekly gain of 188 handles, and a monthly gain of 253.75 for the futures. For the year, the cash index has posted a healthy gain of 610.88 points or 16%.
Among the top components, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) was the biggest winner for the day. The issue rebounded sharply from bad news earlier in the week and had a great day on Friday, gaining $14.80 or 3.6% to close at $423.02.
That was triple the cash index’s gain of 1.23%.
On super bullish days like Friday, the biggest loser of the index is often the smallest winner. Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) extended its winning streak to five sessions by adding $0.55 or 0.5%.
