U.S. stocks delivered a powerful rally on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested the central bank could be preparing to ease monetary policy as early as September. The comments, made at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium, fueled broad optimism across markets, marking the strongest cross-asset surge since April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 846 points to hit a record intraday high, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.9%. Traders swiftly priced in a 91% probability of a 25 basis-point rate cut next month, reflecting growing confidence that the Fed’s tightening cycle is nearing its end.
Powell struck a balanced tone, acknowledging that inflation pressures remain but highlighting that the “shifting balance of risks” could justify adjusting policy. The hint was enough to spark risk-on sentiment across equities, bonds, and commodities.
Technology stocks led the charge, with Tesla rallying 6.2% and Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon each climbing more than 2%. Nvidia added 1.7%, while Intel surged 5.5% after reports that the Trump administration plans to acquire a 10% stake in the semiconductor giant—a move seen as strategically significant for U.S. chip dominance.
Friday’s rebound helped erase earlier weakness tied to megacap tech selling, pushing the Dow and S&P 500 into positive territory for the week and trimming losses for the Nasdaq.
With markets now leaning heavily on expectations of a September cut, attention will shift to upcoming economic data, particularly inflation and labor market trends, to gauge whether Powell’s cautious optimism translates into policy action.
Trump’s comment was not long in coming. “Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is always late: he should have lowered rates a year ago,” the US president told reporters in the Oval Office.
