By By Stan Choe Associated Press,File/ap
Copyright postandcourier
NEW YORK — Wall Street tacked on some more gains Sept. 19 as it glided to the finish of its latest record-setting week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent Friday to close out its sixth winning week in the last seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7 percent.
All three indexes hit all-time highs for a second straight day. They’ve been rallying on expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates in order to give the economy a boost after the central bank lowered them for the first time this year on Wednesday.
FedEx helped lift the market after delivering stronger-than-expected profit and revenue results last quarter. Its shares rose 2.3 percent, thanks in part to strength for its domestic package business.
Newmont rallied 4.3 percent after the gold miner sold its investment in Canada’s Orla Mining for $439 million. It added to a stellar run, and Newmont’s stock has more than doubled so far this year as the price of gold has shot to records.
Gold has benefited from expectations for lower interest rates, along with worries about high inflation and the potential that mountains of debt for the U.S. and other governments could make their currencies worth less.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Lennar, which dropped 4.2 percent after the big homebuilder reported weaker revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected.
Executive chairman Stuart Miller pointed to “the continued pressures of today’s housing market” and said Lennar had to offer additional incentives to entice customers to buy homes, which dragged down the average sales price.
If the Fed does keep cutting interest rates, that could give the struggling housing market a boost, and mortgage rates have already come down in expectation of a rate-cutting campaign.
Lower rates could likewise tamp down widespread criticism that the U.S. stock market has become too expensive after prices rose so quickly. But expectations have grown so strong for coming cuts to rates that the stock market may be set for a sharp drop if the Fed does not cut as much as traders expect.
