On Wall Street on Friday, US stocks closed another record-setting week with a muted performance, as hope built that the US economy can manage the rare feat of suppressing high inflation without causing a recession.

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The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 per cent from its all-time high set the day before, its 42nd of the year so far. The Dow Jones rose 0.3 per cent, to set its own record, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4 per cent.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market after a report showed inflation slowed in August by a bit more than economists expected. It echoed similar numbers from earlier in the month about inflation, but Friday’s report has resonance because it’s the measure that officials at the Federal Reserve prefer to use.

More encouraging data arrived later in the morning, when a report said sentiment among US consumers is stronger than economists expected.

On Wall Street, Trump Media & Technology Group climbed 5.5 per cent following the first disclosure of a major investor selling its shares now that a restriction for insiders has lifted.

A Florida firm owned by former contestants on The Apprentice dumped nearly all of its 5.5 per cent ownership stake in TMTG, which owns former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, according to a filing made with US regulators on Thursday.

Trump has said he does not plan to sell any of his shares – he owns more than half of the company – but the stock has been shaky amid speculation about whether he may.

Traders are betting on a 55 per cent probability the Fed will cut the federal funds rate by another half of a percentage point at its next meeting in November, according to data from CME Group. It usually moves rates by just a quarter of a percentage point.

with AP