Stocks Climb as Traders Bet on Rate Cuts After Inflation Cools

Stocks closed out their worst week since November as fears that artificial intelligence could disrupt corporate earnings weighed on indexes, despite optimism that cooling inflation may spur the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

The S&P 500 was little changed Friday, unable to bounce back from sharp declines the prior three sessions as tech stocks slipped. In the end, the benchmark saw its worst weekly decline since November, as it fell 1.4%. The index has now fallen for two straight weeks as AI concerns have swept from sector to sector.