US Equity Indexes Lower This Week After Economic Data Impacts Rate-Cut Outlook

04:23 PM EDT, 09/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- * US equity indexes were lower this week as higher-than-expected US Q2 GDP growth, as well as a drop in jobless claims, pared expectations of future rate cuts. The odds of a 25-basis-point rate cut in late Oct. fell to 89.8% on Friday from 91.9% the previous week.

* The S&P 500 closed at 6,643.7 on Friday versus 6,664.36 a week ago. The Nasdaq Composite stood at 22,484.07 compared with 22,631.47 a week earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 46,247.2 versus 46,315.27 at the end of last week.

*US Q2 GDP rose at an annual rate of 3.8%, up from a 0.6% decline in Q1, and higher than the 3.3% forecast in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Initial jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 20 fell to 218,000 from upwardly revised 232,000 in the week prior, and below the 233,000 expected in a Bloomberg survey.

*The PCE price index increased 0.3% in August from 0.2% in July, while the core measure rose 0.2%, unchanged from the month prior. US personal income increased at a 0.4% monthly rate in August, above the 0.3% expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 55.1 in September from 58.2 in August.

*New orders for durable goods in August increased 2.9% to $312.1 billion, up from a 2.7% decline in July, and higher than the 0.3% drop expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The advance international goods trade deficit in August narrowed by 16.8% from the month before.

*US existing home sales declined by 0.2% in August to 4 million from 4.01 million in July, and above the 3.95 million rate expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, new US single-family home sales in August rose 20.5% to an annual rate of 800,000 from 664,000 in July, above the 650,000 rate expected in a Bloomberg survey.

*US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 600,000 barrels from the week earlier, and were lower than the 800,000-barrel increase forecast by a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

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