A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 18, 2025.
NYSE
Stocks rose Friday following a winning session that sent indexes to new records as the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates set in investors’ minds.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 98 points higher, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 traded 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.1% and touched a fresh record high.
Apple led the way higher, rising 1.4%, as the company’s latest iPhone went on sale around the world. Tesla shares were also up 2%.
Wall Street was on pace to post strong weekly gains. The S&P 500 and Dow are up 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively, while the Nasdaq is up 1.8%. The Russell 2000 has outperformed, rising 3%, and on pace for its seventh weekly advance.
“The market is being held afloat by the earnings numbers,” said Aswath Damodaran, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “As long as the earnings numbers keep coming in, there is no catalyst for an adjustment.”
“It’s not just Big Tech. It’s not just tech,” he added. “It’s collectively all stocks.”
Stocks also got a boost this week after the Fed lowered its benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter percentage point, its first rate reduction since December. The move was widely expected by markets, but stocks had a volatile session on the back of the decision after Fed Chair Jerome Powell in his press conference characterized the decision as a “risk management cut.”