US stocks climb after China provides stimulus through rate cut but S&P 500 still on course for a weekly loss
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
- US stocks rose Friday, aided by China's effort to shore up economic growth.
- China's central bank made a historically large cut to a key lending rate.
- The S&P 500 was still looking at its seventh straight weekly fall.
US stocks pushed higher Friday, with China moving to alleviate economic growth concerns by cutting a key interest rates, but the benchmark S&P 500 was still in line to add to its long string of weekly losses.
Stocks found upside support after the People's Bank of China cut its five-year loan prime rate, used to price mortgages, to 4.45% from 4.6%. The historically large reduction comes as China is facing its slowest growth since 1991, exacerbated by this year's lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The S&P 500 could still be in a position to avoid falling into a bear market but it remained on course to mark a seventh straight weekly decline.
Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Friday:
- S&P 500: 3,936.93, up 0.93%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 31,416.42, up 0.52% (163.29 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 11,514.59, up 1.11%
Around the markets, billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller revealed a new bet against the S&P 500 and pushed into energy stocks last quarter.
Stablecoin tether has added more than $250 million in non-US government debt to its reserves.
Oil prices edged up. West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 0.1% at $112.34 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.2% to $112.23.
Gold gained slightly, rising to $1,841.60 per ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield fell one basis point to 2.83%.
Bitcoin slipped less than 0.1% to $30,200.46.