LIVE MARKETS-Wall Street indexes look to end the week strong after data

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WALL STREET INDEXES LOOK TO END THE WEEK STRONG AFTER DATA

Wall Street's three major indexes are rising early on Friday with the Nasdaq .IXIC and the S&P 500 .SPX eyeing their fourth straight daily advances with the latest inflation data coming in roughly in line with expectations while a closely watched consumer sentiment survey showed improvement.

The University of Michigan's preliminary December survey showed consumer sentiment at 53.3, above the consensus expectation of 52.0 and the final November reading of 51.0. Respondents' one-year outlook for inflation was lower than November's final reading.

The September core and headline PCE price indexes undefined came in at 2.8%. Both were in line with the consensus.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer spending increased marginally in September, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and rising cost of living curbed demand. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, rose 0.3% after a downwardly revised 0.5% gain in August, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday.

The main stock indexes added to gains after the reports. All told, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are looking for their ninth advance out of 10 sessions with just last Monday being the odd man out.

In other milestones, the Dow Jones Transports Average .DJT is on a nine-day winning streak. It last rose nine straight days in October 2021. Before that, the last time it rose more than nine days in a row was an 11-day winning streak that ended in August 2020.

Other tickers to watch are the small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT index, which is eyeing its second record close in a row, though the day is young yet. And the Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX is also angling for a record close along with the communication services sector .SPLRCL, and the S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK.

Communication services, up more than 1%, is the biggest S&P 500 sector gainer. Utilities .SPLRCU, down 0.4%, and healthcare .SPXHC, down 0.1%, are the only S&P 500 sector decliners. Industrials .SPLRCI is roughly flat.

Regarding the PCE data, Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, said:

"With the Fed meeting next week the big debate is whether they can cut rates to support the job market with inflation above their target and this morning’s PCE numbers show that inflation is stable, so they will be able to cut interest rates by 25 bps, although there will likely be some discussion – and potential dissent – about inflation remaining sticky and not approaching the 2.0% target any time soon."

Here is your morning snapshot from 10:29 a.m. ET/1429 GMT:

(Sinéad Carew, Terence Gabriel)

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