A resilient U.S. stocks rally heads into a busy week of corporate results, with investors concerned about the strength of the artificial intelligence trade and about how aggressively the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. The S&P 500 (.SPX), on Friday ended October up 2.3% for the month, its sixth straight month of gains, despite wobbling this week after megacap companies posted mixed results. Doubt also grew that more interest rate cuts were imminent after the Fed ease

Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, during a meeting in Washington, Oct. 24, 2025. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower interest rates on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, by a quarter of a percentage point for the second meeting in a row. (Caroline Gutman/The New York Times) By COLBY SMITH The Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday for a second time this year, despite officials having only a partial view of how the economy is faring

Investors were pinning hopes on more monetary policy easing ahead, even as Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting revealed a less-certain path toward more interest rate cuts in the face of a data drought, sticky inflation and divided opinions among the central bank’s members. Fed Chair Jerome Powell surprised markets by casting doubt on the prospects of an interest rate cut at the central bank’s next meeting in December, saying such a move was “not a foregone conclusion” even th

UPS driver makes deliveries in Miami on April 28, 2025. UPS, in the throes of a cost-cutting drive, said on Oct. 28 that it had reduced its work force by 48,000 employees this year. (Scott McIntyre/The New York Times) By PETER EAVIS UPS has since last year reduced its workforce by 48,000 employees, the company said earlier this week, in a cost-cutting drive aimed at bolstering profits and winning back investors. The Atlanta-based delivery company, which had nearly half a mill

The Amazon logo in the lobby of a building in Manhattan, Oct. 18, 2022. Amazon is bracing for major job cuts among its corporate employees starting on Tuesday, as it spends aggressively on artificial intelligence development, according to two people familiar with the cuts. (Karsten Moran/The New York Times) By KAREN WEISE Amazon said earlier this week that it planned to cut 14,000 corporate jobs, as it spends aggressively on artificial intelligence development. Beth Galetti,

With the U.S. government shutdown threatening to freeze October’s inflation report, the Treasury is expected to deploy a workaround to compute the index underpinning the $2.1 trillion market for inflation-protected bonds for the first time since their 1997 launch, a move that may cause pricing quirks as traders adjust their calculations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has said it has halted all data collection and publishing during the shutdown, apart from recalling staff to

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, speaks at a press conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington on July 30, 2025. Warning signs in crucial money markets have raised the prospect that the central bank will soon stop reducing its portfolio of government debt and mortgage bond holdings. (Caroline Gutman/The New York Times) By JOE RENNISON and COLBY SMITH For years, the Federal Reserve has patiently waited for any signs that it has shrunk its eno

All three major U.S. stock indexes posted record closing highs again on Tuesday as Nvidia shares gained following news it will build artificial intelligence supercomputers for the U.S. energy department, and as investors were optimistic about corporate earnings ahead of key results from megacaps this week. Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, said the company will build seven supercomputers for the U.S. Department of Energy, and said the company has $500 billion in bookings for its AI