Market Close: Stocks Rise, Investors Look Past Tech Selloff and High Inflation • 10/15/26

0:01See NBC Business News update market close. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Wall Street opens Friday morning after a winning Thursday for the major averages. Investors shook off more hot inflation data and a tech sell-off. The Dow soared up 556 points, more than 1%. Nike shares led it higher. they were up more than 5%. The S &P 500 index added 25 points. The Nasdaq was up 20 points. Bond yields pulled back Thursday, helping stocks. Here's CNBC's Mike Santoli. It does show you the market still has its ability to kind of repair itself through this rotation. I think partly it's the dramatic decline in treasury yields is enlivening parts of the market that had led the way lower, like consumer and housing.

0:49Companies whose shares hit fresh all-time highs Thursday include oil names Exxon Chevron and ConocoPhillips, plus Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Visa, and healthcare names Gilead Sciences, McKesson, and AbbVie. Inflation at the wholesale level soared in September, making its biggest jump in four years. Here's CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leisman. Yeah, coming a little hot on the PPI here. I've got month over month PPI final demand up 1.3. The consensus was 0.5. PPI measures input costs, and these can hint at how much prices will eventually go up for consumers down the line. Here's a take from SMBC economist Joe Livornia with CNBC's Sarah Eisen and whether the Fed could raise interest rates at the end of the month.

1:38How problematic are these inflation readings? They're problematic, Sarah, in the sense that inflation is not coming down as quickly as many have been thinking. It's the reason why the Fed always needed to hike this year. We've got a boom. It's just not a disinflationary boom. It's an inflationary boom. And inflation is going to be sticking to the extent this Middle East crisis continues to drag on. That's also a factor. It will mean there are more rate hikes coming, Sarah. They're just not going to hike in October. Retail sales came in more than twice as hot as forecast last month, but much of that was because of high gas prices.

2:14Consumers aren't necessarily buying more things. They're just paying more money for the same things they always buy. Here's a take from EY Parthenon's Gregory Daco on CNBC. Inflation is still front and center for many consumers. And the income erosion phenomenon, where people feel like they have less spending capacity, is capping the pace of growth. So, yes, nominal figures are high, but that's a price story. A volume story is much different, where you have much more moderate consumer spending momentum. Former Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker believes that the Fed will raise interest rates at the meeting at the end of the month, partly to signal it's serious about this rising inflation.

2:55This result, the CPI result, they weren't good. But there's things they can't do anything about, like diesel. I mean, the price of diesel is filtering through the economy. If it comes on trucks, it's going to cost more bucks. That's the reality. Apple and Facebook and Instagram parent Meta teaming up to make Meta's Muse AI model run on Mac computers. Muse has been a top app download in Apple's App Store. People are starting to use it as an AI assistant. On Friday's watch list, earnings are coming from travelers and a number of regional banks. I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. From gas prices to housing prices, from government spending to consumer spending, from the AI boom to the data center backlash, how will this election hit your pocketbook and your portfolio?

3:43Continuing coverage, the economy election, CNBC. Introducing Fidelity Trader Plus. With customizable tools and charts you can access across all your devices. Try our most powerful trading platform yet at fidelity.com slash trader plus. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE SIPC.