Stock Market Today: Live Updates & News

Consumer sentiment receded in September, though roughly in line with expectations, according to the latest reading from the University of Michigan.

The survey’s index of consumer sentiment registered a 55.1 reading, just below the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 55.4. That marked a 5.3% drop from August and a 21.6% slide from the same period a year ago.

Sentiment declines came “across a broad swath of the population, across groups by age, income, and education, and all five index components,” said survey director Joanne Hsu.

“A key exception: sentiment for consumers with larger stock holdings held steady in September, while for those with smaller or no holdings, sentiment decreased,” she added.

Politically, Hsu noted that while sentiment fell for independents and Republicans but actually rose for Democrats.

Inflation expectations held fairly steady, with the one-year outlook at 4.7% and the five-year at 3.7%. Current conditions and future expectations indexes also registered declines.

“Consumers continue to express frustration over the persistence of high prices, with 44% spontaneously mentioning that high prices are eroding their personal finances, the highest reading in a year,” Hsu said.

— Jeff Cox

Stocks traded up on Friday morning, reversing course from the prior day’s losses.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.4% shortly after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also climbed 214 points, or 0.5%.

— Sean Conlon

Some stocks, including Paccar and Intel, are making big moves before the bell Friday:

• Paccar — The maker of Peterbilt trucks jumped 7% after President Donald Trump said slapped a 25% tariff on imported heavy trucks starting Oct. 1.
• Intel — The chip company added 4.4%. The Wall Street Journal reported Intel has approached Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor and other companies about investing in the beleaguered company.
• Furniture stocks — President Trump said he is imposing a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, effective Oct. 1, sending shares of furniture retailers lower. RH tumbled nearly 4%, while Wayfair and Williams-Sonoma both fell about 3%.

Read here for the full list of names.

— Michelle Fox

The core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 2.9% year over year in August, in line with a Dow Jones estimate. The report is likely to keep expectations for rate cuts in place.

— Fred Imbert

Costco shares were nearly 1% lower in premarket trading Friday on the heels of the retailer’s latest quarterly results.

The company’s same-store sales increased 6.4% excluding the impact from changes in gas prices and foreign exchange. That signifies two straight quarter of decelerating same-store sales for the company.

However, its earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter beat analyst estimates. Costco reported $5.87 per share on revenue of $86.16 billion, above the $5.80 per share and $86.06 billion in revenue that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting.

— Melissa Repko, Sean Conlon

Shares of artificial intelligence players Oracle and Nvidia were 0.4% and 0.6% lower in the premarket on Friday, respectively.

Oracle closed lower for the third consecutive day Thursday. Traders have been watching the stock all week as a barometer for health of the AI trade.

Nvidia, however, closed higher in the previous day’s session after seeing two straight days of losses.

Here are the Dow Jones consensus estimates for the inflation report due out later in the day:

• PCE price index month over month: up 0.3%
• PCE price index year over year: up 2.7%
• Core PCE price index month over month: up 0.2%
• Core PCE price index year over year: up 2.9%

— Fred Imbert

Costco and Concentrix were among the companies moving after Thursday’s close.

• Shares of Costco dipped about 0.9% after the warehouse retailer reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, supported by double-digit gains in both membership income and its e-commerce business. Costco earned $5.87 per share on revenue of $86.16 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG expected earnings of $5.80 per share on revenue of $86.06 billion.
• Shares of Concentrix plunged nearly 22% in after-hours trading. The technology and services company missed earnings expectations and lowered its forecast. The company earned $2.78 per share after adjustments, while analysts polled by LSEG expected $2.87 per share. Revenue of $2.48 billion exceeded the consensus view of $2.46 billion. Concentrix boosted its quarterly dividend by 8.2% to 36 cents per share.

— Pia Singh

Markets are still pricing in two more rate cuts this year, but the possibility of just one more rate cut isn’t necessarily bad news, according to Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee.

If the Federal Reserve decides to only implement one rate cut by the end of 2025, Lee told CNBC on Thursday that he thinks “markets would interpret that in a good way, in the sense that they’d rather see the fed cutting into strong economy rather than weak.”

Lee’s comments come after market participants slightly dialed back their expectations of a quarter-point rate cut from the Fed after seeing fewer-than-expected initial jobless claims on Thursday.

“We know that the Fed was lagging in it’s easing because of that imputed shelter inflation, but the reality is they should have been easing sooner … and so I think that we have to be careful,” Lee said. When the Feds talking about that imputed effect, it doesn’t mean we have to start a new hiking cycle just because it takes a while to show up. And I think that’s why markets are going to see through that.”

— Pia Singh