Dow, S&P 500 close at fresh records, log big gains for the week after Fed rate cut: Live updates

A trader reacts on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 22, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

U.S. equities closed out a winning week.

TheS&P 500added 0.49% to close at 6,664.36. TheDow Jones Industrial Averagegained 172.85 points, or 0.37%, ending at 46,315.27. The tech-heavyNasdaq Compositejumped 0.72% to settle the session at 22,631.48.

— Pia Singh

An ETF tracking uranium hit new all-time highs in Friday’s session, rallying past the previous record set more than a decade and a half ago.

The VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) surpassed its prior record notched in October 2017 in Friday’s session. The fund climbed more than 5% in afternoon trading.

NLR ETF, all-time

The ETF is also on track for its best weekly gain since 2020 with a jump of nearly 12%.

— Alex Harring, Nick Wells

The market could see even more moves to the upside following the Federal Reserve’s decision this week to slash its benchmark overnight rate by a quarter percentage point, UBS said on Friday.

“A Fed easing cycle in a non-recessionary environment has historically helped support stocks, and we see further gains underpinned by AI, earnings, and consumption,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

This forecast comes just a day after all three major averages scored a record close. They’re each on pace for another Friday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were around 0.3% higher in afternoon trading, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.5%.

— Sean Conlon

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday:

• Brighthouse Financial— The insurance company soared 26% after Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that a group led by Aquarian Holdings was in talks topay $65-$70per share for Brighthouse Financial.
• Scholastic— The publisher’s stock fell nearly 11%. Scholastic posted a loss per share of $2.52 for the fiscal first quarter, excluding items, wider than the loss of $2.13 per share seen in the same period a year prior.
• Newmont,Orla Mining– Shares of Newmont and Orla Mining moved in opposite directions after Newmont announced that it sold its stake in Orlafor $439 million. Newmont rose more than 4%, while Orla fell about 7%.
• SolarEdge Technologies— The solar stock climbed 4%, adding to its massive 24% surge for the week. The move comes after the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark rate on Wednesday. Solar stocks tend to perform well when monetary policy is loosened, as it lets companies in the space borrow at a lower cost.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

ASMLis poised to grow as semiconductor equipment demand picks up, particularly following Nvidia and Intel’s$5 billion deal, according to Bank of America.Shares ticked up more than 1% on Friday.

The bank, which has a buy rating the stock, raised its price target on U.S.-listed shares to $1,082 from $833.

“While the [Intel] deal stops short of a foundry agreement between the two parties, we think that a potentially more competitive Intel in both datacenters and PCs should be positive for semicaps,” analyst Didier Scemama said in a note to clients.More in CNBC Pro here.

— Liz Napolitano, Pia Singh

Persistent macro challenges and elusive demand recovery continue to hang over United Parcel Service, according to BMO Capital Markets. The firm downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform on Thursday.

“Shifting trade policies and the ending of the de minimis exemptions are also adding to the macro challenges, with negative impact on some of the major higher density (i.e., higher profitability) trading routes, including China,” analyst Fadi Chamoun said in a note to clients.

President Donald Trump recently eliminated the de minimis exemption, which permitted low-value packages into the U.S. without trade duties.

UPS’ cost reductions, part of its network transformation, is also lagging the reduction in revenues, Chamoun noted. He expects all these factors to weigh on U.S. profitability on a year-over-year basis.

Shares of UPS are down 32 % year to date.

— Michelle Fox

Thursday’s finish for the Russell 2000 index was a momentous one, according to Bespoke.

The index closed out the previous trading day with its first all-time closing high since November 2021. That marked the end of a 967-trading day streak without the index seeing a new closing high, the research firm said.

It also found that the streak was the second longest on record for the Russell 2000, behind the 1,177-day streak that ended in November 2004.

— Sean Conlon

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio said Friday that gold and non-fiat currencies will become stronger stores of value as major currencies face devaluation risks amid mounting debt pressures globally.

“We are going to see non-fiat currencies become more important store of wealth and money,” Dalio said at the FutureChina Global Forum 2025, urging investors to diversify their assets with around 10% of their portfolio in gold.

Dalio warned that the excessive spending and spiraling debt by the U.S. government has become “unsustainable” and that the world’s largest economy is facing a major fiscal crisis that will put its monetary order at risk. President Donald Trump’s massive tax bill is expected to add $3.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Read more here.

— Anniek Bao, Pia Singh

The Trump administration is considering a plan to propel the construction of factories and other infrastructure in the U.S. with money froma $550 billion investment fundestablished as part of trade negotiations with Japan, the Wall Street Journal said in a Friday report.

The plan would give priority to investing in sectors such as semiconductors and critical minerals, said the report, which cited documents and people familiar with the discussions. The administration is considering granting leases to companies that would give them access to federal land and water, marking a new frontier in President Donald Trump’s effort to expand his influence across the private sector, the report said.

— Pia Singh

Gold futures year to date

Mortgage rate buydowns and other cost adjustments failed to tempt would-be home buyers in the third quarter, according to Lennar.

The homebuilder’s stock is down more than 3% in extended trading after its earnings cratered 46%, hurt by a combination of weak demand and profit margin pressure. Although earnings topped estimates, investors were disappointed that fourth-quarter home deliveries will be shy of analyst estimates.

Lennar has been dangling incentives to coax buyers into the market, but affordability remains an issue with elevated home prices and interest rates.

In the third quarter, Lennar earned $2.29 per share on revenue of $8.81 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected Lennar to earn $2.10 per share on $9 billion in revenue.

Shares are down 2.6% year to date.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

The small cap-focused Russell 2000 recorded its first all-time closing high since late 2021 on Thursday. The index also hit a new intraday record in the session.

With Thursday’s gain, the index has jumped 3% week to date. It’s on track to see its seventh straight winning week, which would be its longest rally since late 2020.

The Russell 2000

Two well-known stocks were making big moves in after-hour trading.

FedEx shares popped 5.8% following a better-than-expected earnings report for the fiscal first quarter. FedEx earned an adjusted $3.83 per share on $22.24 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG forecasted $3.59 per share and $21.66 billion.

Scholastic, on the other hand, fell 11%. The publisher posted a loss per share of $2.52 for the fiscal first quarter, excluding items, wider than the loss of $2.13 per share seen in the same period a year prior.

— Alex Harring

Futures tied to the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 all ticked about 0.1% higher shortly after 6 p.m. ET Thursday.

— Alex Harring