US stocks rally on hopes of interest rates cut

For the week, major indexes post losses amid concerns over lofty tech valuations

NEW YORK:

US stocks rallied on Friday as investors increased bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month, while all three of the major indexes posted losses for the week amid concerns over lofty technology valuations.

The Nasdaq fell for a third straight week in its longest run of weekly losses since March. The index is now down 7% from its October high. During the session, shares of Nvidia briefly jumped after sources familiar with the matter said the Trump administration is considering green-lighting sales of the company's H200 artificial intelligence chips to China. The stock ended down 1%, still well off of its lows of the session.

Nvidia is down 5.9% for the week even though the AI leader late on Wednesday reported strong quarterly results and gave a robust forecast.

New York Fed President John Williams, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said the central bank can still cut rates "in the near term" without putting its inflation goal at risk. That boosted market views for a rate cut at the Fed's December meeting, even as other policymakers insisted that borrowing costs should remain steady for now.