US stocks were set to close higher on Friday, with the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all on pace for record highs.
The Dow was up 542 points, or 1.16%, as of 2:55 p.m. ET. The blue-chip index was on track to close above 47,000 for the first time ever.
The S&P 500 gained 0.94%, and was flirting with closing above 6,800 points for the first time. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.25%.
The top three performing stocks in the Dow were IBM (IBM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), which rose 7.8%, 4.15% and 2.5%, respectively.
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, fell 5.6%, signaling relative calm in markets.
“It’s not time to chase risk, but it’s not time to hide either,” Gina Bolvin, president at Bolvin Wealth Management Group, said in an email. “Investors should lean into quality names, companies with margin strength and sectors that can weather stubborn inflation.”
The 10-year Treasury yield traded around 4% and was relatively unchanged.
“Looking ahead, uncertainty may rise,” Christian Floro, market strategist at Principal Asset Management, said in an email. “The White House has indicated that the October inflation report may not be released next month, which increases the weight placed on today’s figures and raises the risk that policymakers will be making decisions with less clarity on the near-term inflation trajectory.”
The Federal Reserve meets next week to review monetary policy, with a decision on interest rates expected at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday.