Financial-Markets                      07/25 16:00

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks capped another strong week with more records on 
Friday.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to set an all-time high, the fifth time it did so this 
week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 208 points, or 0.5%, and the 
Nasdaq composite added 0.2% to its own record set the day before.

   Deckers, the company behind Ugg boots and Hoka shoes, jumped 11.3% after 
reporting stronger profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected. 
Its growth was particularly strong outside the United States, where revenue 
soared nearly 50%.

   Edwards Lifesciences rose 5.5% after likewise topping Wall Street's 
expectations for profit in the latest quarter. It said it saw strength across 
all its product groups, and it expects profit for the full year to come in at 
the high end of the forecasted range it had given earlier.

   They helped offset a drop of 8.5% for Intel, which fell after reporting a 
loss for the latest quarter, when analysts were looking for a profit. The 
struggling chipmaker also said it would cut thousands of jobs and eliminate 
other expenses as it tries to turn around its fortunes. Intel, which helped 
launch Silicon Valley as the U.S. technology hub, has fallen behind rivals like 
Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices while demand for artificial intelligence 
chips soars.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 25.29 points to 6,388.64. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average climbed 208.01 to 44,901.92, and the Nasdaq composite added 
50.36 to 21,108.32.

   The pressure is on companies to deliver solid growth in profits in order to 
justify big gains for their stock prices, which have rallied to record after 
record in recent weeks. Wall Street has zoomed higher on hopes that President 
Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his 
stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession 
and drive up inflation. Trump has recently announced deals with Japan and the 
Philippines, and the next big deadline is looming on Friday, Aug. 1.

   Besides potential trade talks, next week will also feature a meeting by the 
Federal Reserve on interest rates. Trump again on Thursday lobbied the Fed to 
cut rates, which he has implied could save the U.S. government money on its 
debt repayments.

   Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has continued to insist he wants to wait 
for more data about how Trump's tariffs affect the economy and inflation before 
the Fed makes its next move. Lower interest rates can help goose the economy, 
but they can also give inflation more fuel.

   Lower rates also may not lower the U.S. government's costs to borrow money, 
if the bond market feels they could send inflation higher in the future. In 
that case, lower short-term rates brought by the Fed could actually have the 
opposite effect and make it more expensive for Washington to borrow money over 
the long term.

   The widespread expectation on Wall Street is that the Fed will wait until 
September to resume cutting interest rates.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following Trump's 
latest attempt to push Powell to cut interest rates. Trump also seemed to back 
off on threats to fire the Fed's chair.

   "To do that is a big move, and I don't think that's necessary," Trump said. 
"I just want to see one thing happen, very simple: Interest rates come down."

   If Trump fired Powell, he'd risk a freak-out in financial markets by raising 
the possibility of a less independent Fed, one unable to make unpopular choices 
necessary to keep the economy healthy.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.38% from 4.43% late Thursday. 
The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what 
the Fed will do, held steady at 3.91%, where it was late Thursday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped across much of Europe and Asia.

   Stocks fell 1.1% in Hong Kong and 0.3% in Shanghai. U.S. Treasury Secretary 
Scott Bessent has said he will meet with Chinese officials in Sweden next week 
to work toward a trade deal with Beijing ahead of an Aug. 12 deadline. Trump 
has said a China trip "is not too distant" as trade tensions ease.

   ___

   AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.

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