US STOCKS-Wall St closes higher with indexes notching weekly gains

By Abigail Summerville and Purvi Agarwal

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes closed higher on Friday, and also posted a weekly gain, as FedEx FDX.N rose after positive earnings.

The parcel delivery company popped after it reported quarterly profit and revenue above analyst estimates on Thursday, as cost-cutting and strength in domestic deliveries helped offset weaker international volumes.

Apple AAPL.O rose following a price target raise from J.P. Morgan, while gains in Palantir Technologies PLTR.O and Oracle ORCL.N also drove the S&P 500 technology .SPLRCT sector higher.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched their third straight week of gains, boosted by the Fed's first rate cut of 2025 and indications of further monetary policy easing. Revived optimism around AI-linked stock trading also added to the rise.

Wall Street wavered earlier in the day as investors continued to digest the Fed's outlook and get a read on Stephen Miran, its newest governor and White House economic adviser, who spoke on CNBC on Friday morning.

"Certainly if the idea is the Fed is moving in a direction to relax the inflation target, that is definitely a recipe for running hot, and that's good for stocks," said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 32.05 points, or 0.47%, to end at 6,662.84 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 156.30 points, or 0.69%, to 22,625.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 165.45 points, or 0.36%, to 46,315.77.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index .RUT dropped after briefly hitting an intraday record high. It notched a record close on Thursday, its first since November 2021.

"Small caps have been trading inversely with rates, and it's just the idea of small caps benefiting disproportionately from lower interest rates," Ladner said.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke by phone, after which Trump said that the two leaders made progress on a TikTok deal and agreed to a face-to-face meeting as soon as next month in South Korea.

Also on Friday, the Senate blocked a short-term funding bill, increasing the likelihood of a U.S. government shutdown.

Wall Street's three main indexes are in positive territory so far in September - a month traditionally deemed bad for U.S. equities. The benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.4% on average in the month since 2000, according to data compiled by LSEG.

In other stock news, Lennar LEN.N fell after the homebuilder reported a lower third-quarter profit and forecast fourth-quarter home deliveries below estimates.

Paramount Skydance PSKY.O jumped after a CNBC report laid out more details about the media company's potential bid for Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O, which also rose. An offer could come later than previously expected, according to CNBC.