The Dow is surging, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also having a good day to end what has been a dreadful week.
The Magnificent 7 stocks, the large-capitalization technology names that spearheaded the market’s gains of the past two years, looked to be staging a comeback.
The latest reading of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure should leave a September interest-rate cut in play.
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The Dow was leaving the other major indexes in the dust on Friday and 3M was a big reason why.
The blue-chip index was up 750 points, or 1.9%, in recent trading. Walmart was its only member that was down on the day.
On the flip side, major contributors included 3M, which was up 19.5%, Travelers, UnitedHealthGroup, Salesforce, and Visa. 3M reported better than expected quarterly results, while optimism about the economy lifted much of the market.
The stock market was rallying across the board, with one major exception.
The Dow was up 603 points, or 1.5%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7%. Within the S&P, 420 off its constituents were rising on the day.
At the sector level, 10 of the 11 major sectors were gaining more than 0.5%. Then there was energy. The S&P 500 energy sector was down 0.3%. Its worst performing stocks were EOG Resources, APA, Devon Energy, and Phillips 66, all down 0.8% or more. Only six S&P 500 energy stocks were rising.
A big reason why was the price of oil, which was down 2.4% to $76.41. The rest of the market was rallying on this week’s strong economic data and another encouraging inflation report, but the price of oil kept energy from joining the party.
