Wall Street stocks concluded the week on a generally positive note, capping off the market's fourth consecutive month of gains.
After a midafternoon decline, stocks recovered in the late afternoon. About 76 per cent of the stocks in the S&P 500 index saw gains as the index increased by 1 per cent.
August ended with a 2.3 per cent gain for the benchmark S&P 500. It is currently up 18.4 per cent for the year and is just 0.4 per cent below its all-time high from July.
August month for S&P 500 ended on a higher note than the previous month. On August 30th, the index closed at 5,648.40 points on the wall street. which is 201.70 points gain over August 1st closing of 5446.68 points on the US bourse
This week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its fourth all-time high, rising by 0.6 per cent.
The marquee index 'Dow Jones Industrial Average' also saw a 1.76 per cent increase, amounting to 720.29 points in growth in the month of August.
The 'Dow Jones Industrial Average' closed at 40,347.97 points on August 1 which rose to 41,563.08 points on the last trading session in the month of August.
The tech heavy index Nasdaq Composite saw moderate growth of 0.65 per cent in the month August . The index closed at 17,194.15 in the first trading session in the month of August compared to the final trading session in the August, which closed at 17,713.62 marking a 114.22 points increase in the month.
On the last trading session of the month, the Nasdaq Composite gained a 1.1 per cent move, translating to an overall 197.19 increase in the last trading session of the month of August.
Personal consumption and expenditure
In its report on personal consumption and expenditures, the Commerce Department reported that prices increased by just 0.2 per cent in July compared to a 0.1 per cent increase in June. The annual rate of inflation remained constant at 2.5 per cent.
At its next meeting next month, the central bank is expected to lower rates for the first time in over four years, as the report confirming price increases is slowing down indicates. The market is placing bets that by year's end, the Fed will lower its benchmark rate by a full percentage point.
