Group earnings fell 11 per cent to $926 million and net profits declined 15.8 per cent to $426 million after accounting for $11 million in restructuring costs.
Wall Street rallied to its best day in months on Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve hinted that cuts to interest rates may be on the way, along with the kick they can give the economy and investment prices.
The S&P 500 leaped 1.5 per cent for its first gain in six days and finished just shy of its all-time high set last week.
The Dow Jones soared 846 points, or 1.9 per cent, to its own record after topping its prior high from December. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.9 per cent.
“Ka-Powell” is how Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management, described the reaction to Jerome Powell’s highly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “The Fed isn’t going to be the party-pooper.”
The hope among investors had been that Powell would hint that the Fed’s first cut to interest rates of the year may be imminent. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can goose the economy, even if they risk worsening inflation at the same time.
US President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for lower rates, often insulting Powell while doing so. And a surprisingly weak report on jobs growth this month pushed many on Wall Street to assume cuts may come as soon as the Fed’s next meeting in September.
Attendees eat lunch during the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Moran, Wyoming, US, on Saturday. Credit: Bloomberg
Powell encouraged them on Friday after saying he’s seen risks rise for the job market. The Fed’s two jobs are to keep the job market healthy and to keep a lid on inflation, and it often has to prioritise one over the other because it has just one tool to fix either.
But Powell also would not commit to any kind of timing. He said the jobs market looked OK at the moment, even if “it is a curious kind of balance” where fewer new workers were chasing after fewer new jobs. Inflation, meanwhile, still had the potential to push higher because of Trump’s tariffs.
Loading
In sum, Powell said that “the stability of the unemployment rate and other labour market measures allows us to proceed carefully as we consider changes to our policy stance”.
Treasury yields tumbled in the bond market as bets built that the Fed would cut its main interest rate in September. Traders see an 83 per cent chance of that, up from 75 per cent a day earlier, according to data from CME Group.
On Wall Street, Intel climbed 5.5 per cent after Trump said the chip company had agreed to give the US government a 10 per cent stake in its business.