[New York Stock Market] Mixed Reactions on PCE Inflation Confirmation... Dow Posts Biggest Gain This Year

The New York stock market ended this week mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged the most this year. This was due to the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index meeting Wall Street expectations.

Specialists are gathered at the post in the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the United States to handle their tasks.
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On the 31st (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 38,686.32, up 574.84 points (1.51%) from the previous session.

The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index rose 42.03 points (0.80%) to 5,277.51, while the Nasdaq index fell 2.06 points (0.01%) to 16,735.02. The Dow surged over 1.5%, marking its largest gain this year. Salesforce, which had plunged nearly 20% the previous day, jumped over 7%, driving the Dow's upward momentum.

The Nasdaq recorded losses for the third consecutive trading day, but the decline narrowed significantly. Nvidia fell for the second consecutive day, slightly weakening investor sentiment.

Market participants focused on the April PCE price index. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the core PCE price index rose 0.2% month-over-month and 2.8% year-over-year in April. The monthly increase was slightly slower than the previous month's 0.3% rise. The year-over-year increase remained the same as the previous month. The monthly rise in the core PCE price index was the lowest so far this year.

The April PCE price index, which includes both energy and food prices, rose 0.3% month-over-month and 2.7% year-over-year. These figures were unchanged from the previous month and met market expectations.

By individual stocks, Dell Technologies plunged 17%. The sharp drop following a 5% decline the previous day was attributed to the company’s announcement that its AI server backlog was smaller than expected despite strong earnings.

Clothing retailer Gap surged over 28% after reporting earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s stock rose over 2% after credit rating agency Fitch maintained its rating.

Looking at sector indices, only the technology-related index remained flat, while all other indices rose. In particular, the energy-related index surged over 2%, and the financial, healthcare, industrial, materials, and utilities indices rose over 1%. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX) dropped 1.55 points (10.71%) to 12.92 from the previous session.