U.S. Stocks Seeing Modest Strength Following Inflation Data

(RTTNews) - Stocks are seeing modest strength during trading on Friday, with the major averages all moving to the upside after ending yesterday's choppy trading session narrowly mixed.

The major averages have pulled back off their highs of the session but currently remain in positive territory. The Dow is up 136.52 points or 0.3 percent at 47,987.46, the Nasdaq is up 65.97 points or 0.3 percent at 23,571.10 and the S&P 500 is up 20.57 points or 0.3 percent at 6,877.69.

The strength on Wall Street comes following the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that largely came in line with economist estimates.

The Commerce Department said its personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index climbed by 0.3 percent in September, matching the growth seen in August along with economist estimates.

The annual rate of growth by the PCE price index ticked up to 2.8 percent in September from 2.7 percent in August, which was also in line with expectations.

Excluding food and energy prices, the core PCE price index rose by 0.2 percent in September, matching the increases seen in the two previous months as well as economist estimates.

The annual rate of growth by the core PCE price index edged down to 2.8 percent in September from 2.9 percent in August. Economists had expected the annual rate of growth to remain unchanged.

The unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of core price growth has reinforced recent optimism about the outlook interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

Buying interest has remained somewhat subdued, however, as the Fed was already widely expected to cut rates by a quarter point.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 87.2 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by another quarter point next week.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while South Korea's Kospi surged by 1.8 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is just above the unchanged line and the German DAX Index is up by 0.8 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.9 basis points at 4.127 percent.