5 Stocks, 5 ETFs Make Moves After Friday Release Of Fed's Preferred Inflation Data

On Friday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis delivered its eagerly awaited report on the Price Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index, a key metric closely monitored by the Federal Reserve to gauge inflationary trends.

The headline inflation indicator showed a slight increase from an upwardly revised 3.4% in July to 3.5% year-on-year in August, matching with the anticipated 3.5%. In terms of monthly changes, the PCE price index increased by 0.4%, falling short of the expected 0.6%.

The core inflation reading, which excludes energy and food components from the calculation, decreased from 4.2% year-on-year in July to 3.9% year-on-year in August, in line with forecasts. The month-over-month variation in the core PCE price index dropped to 0.1%, slightly below both the previous reading and economists’ consensus of 0.2%.

S&P 500’s 5 Best-Performing Stocks On Friday

Taking a closer look at market reactions, here are the top-performing stocks of the day within the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY:

• NIKE Inc. NKE soared 6.9% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings in Q2.
  
• Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA rose over 6%, on track for the best performing session since November 2022. Bloomberg News reported on Friday that the company is considering Tim Wentworth, a former executive of Cigna Group CI, as its potential next chief executive. Additionally, on Thursday, TD Cowen revised Walgreens Boots Alliance’s price target, lowering it from $41 to $37.
  
• V.F. Corporation VFC rose nearly 7%
  
• Zions Bancorporation ZIONS gained nearly 5% after Citigroup’s analyst Keith Horowitz started coverage of regional bank stocks, stating that the industry offers an attractive entry point. According to the analyst, Zion appears to have a stock price trading at a discount, and its net interest income has shown signs of bottoming out ahead of other banks.
  
• Micron Technology MU rose over 4%, rebounding from a 4.4% decline on Thursday, despite reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

5 ETFs Moving On Friday

In the realm of ETFs, here are the price actions following the PCE price index report:

• SPDR Regional Banking ETF KRE, up 2.2%
  
• The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY up 1.5%
  
• Vanguard Real Estate VNQ up 1.2%
  
• Vanguard Information Technology VGT up 1.2%
  
• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK up 1.1%

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