U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday as a complicated inflation report and a plunge in consumer sentiment took the shine off what had been Wall Street’s strongest weekly rally in nearly a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 slipped into the red by the closing bell, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eked out a modest gain, buoyed by a blowout revenue report from chipmaking giant TSMC.
The day’s central event was the March Consumer Price Index, which delivered a split verdict. Headline CPI surged 0.9% on the month, well above the 0.7% consensus estimate and a sharp acceleration from February’s 0.3% reading — driven almost entirely by energy costs as crude oil continues to hover near $97 per barrel amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict. On an annual basis, headline inflation came in at 3.8%. However, the number that mattered most to traders was core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices. Core rose just 0.2% monthly, a tick below the 0.3% forecast, keeping annual core inflation at 2.8% and right in line with expectations. Markets initially rallied on the core reading, which was seen as evidence that underlying price pressures are not reaccelerating, but gains faded through the afternoon after the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey hit a record low.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 47,916.57, falling 269.23 points or 0.56% on the session. The S&P 500 dipped 7.77 points, or 0.11%, to settle at 6,816.89. The Nasdaq Composite bucked the trend, adding 80.48 points, or 0.35%, to close at 22,902.89. Despite Friday’s pullback, all three indexes posted a second consecutive winning week, with the S&P 500 logging its best weekly performance since May.
Notable Movers
TSMC (TSM) was the session’s standout after reporting first-quarter revenue of 1.13 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($35.7 billion), a 35% year-over-year surge that comfortably beat analyst estimates. The results reinforced the view that AI-driven chip demand remains robust, and the stock provided a tailwind for the broader semiconductor sector.
Meta Platforms (META) continued to build on Thursday’s momentum, extending gains after CoreWeave (CRWV) announced a dramatically expanded partnership to provide Meta with AI cloud computing capacity — including early deployments of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform — through December 2032 in a deal valued at approximately $21 billion.
StubHub (STUB) had a volatile session, falling as much as 9.7% intraday after the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against the ticketing platform over alleged violations of “all-in” pricing rules. The stock recovered somewhat into the close but still ended the day lower.
Salesforce (CRM) was among the weakest names in the Dow, shedding nearly 4% on the session, while IBM dropped around 2.3% as investors rotated out of enterprise software names.
Looking Ahead
All eyes now turn to two major catalysts. On the geopolitical front, U.S. and Iranian negotiators are expected to meet in Islamabad, Pakistan over the weekend for talks aimed at solidifying a fragile ceasefire — the outcome could set the tone for oil prices and risk sentiment heading into Monday. On the earnings front, bank earnings season kicks off next week with Goldman Sachs reporting on Monday, followed by JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and BlackRock on Tuesday. The CME FedWatch tool still shows near-100% odds of a rate pause at this month’s Fed meeting, with chances of at least one cut this year hovering around 35%. Investors will parse the bank results and next week’s PPI release for fresh clues on where the economy — and the Fed — are headed from here.