Stocks eked out gains Friday and closed the week higher after the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge added to the case for an interest rate cut next week. For the week, the S & P 500 rose 0.3%, while the Nasdaq added nearly 1%. Both indexes logged back-to-back weekly gains. The Dow gained roughly 0.5%. On Friday morning, the government’s September personal consumption expenditures price index showed a cooler-than-expected year-over-year increase in the core rate, which excludes food and energy prices. While the PCE report was delayed because of the government shutdown, it was welcome news in a data-starved market ahead of the Fed’s two-day policymaking meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. .SPX 1M mountain S & P 500’s 1 month performance It has been a couple of weeks since New York Fed President John Williams breathed new life into the possibility of a central bank rate cut. During that time, the S & P 500 rebounded 5% and ended this week just shy of its record-high close of 6,890 on Oct. 28. Here are some of this week’s portfolio highlights. Meta Platforms shares advanced 4% for the week after Bloomberg reported Thursday that the Instagram and Facebook parent was set to cut metaverse spending by up to 30%. It would be a wise move by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, especially if it means the company focuses on technology that can be monetized more quickly, such as Meta’s smart glasses and its AI efforts. Meta has been spending like crazy, and its stock has taken a hit since late October when management increased its capital expenditure guidance alongside strong earnings. Salesforce shares jumped 13% for the week after a big earnings beat. While it was this week’s best-performing portfolio stock, it was still down 22% year to date. That dynamic reflects Salesforce’s struggle to convince investors that generative AI adoption does not pose a threat to the seat-based business model of its core customer relationship management software. Alongside fiscal 2026 third-quarter results, management on Wednesday evening also raised guidance and disclosed more paid deals for Agentforce, the company’s AI platform. On Thursday’s “Mad Money” with Jim Cramer, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff argued AI is a ” commodity feature ” that boosts the value of the company’s CRM software. CrowdStrike on Tuesday evening reported better-than-expected fiscal 2026 third-quarter results and strong forward guidance. Jim called it a “trophy quarter” after the cybersecurity firm delivered record free cash flow, annual recurring revenue, and operating income. We weren’t fazed when the stock, which was pretty flat for the week, didn’t move on the bullish report. It’s become commonplace to see CrowdStrike — and even our other cyber stock, Palo Alto Networks — trade lower after earnings, only to recover and move higher in the weeks ahead. Following the print, we reiterated our buy-equivalent 1 rating on CrowdStrike and raised our price target to $550 from $520. We sent out three trade…
Read More: Stocks rise, Meta gets real on metaverse, and Salesforce bounces