Finance

The U.S. Labor Department reported that headline consumer inflation held steady at 3.4% for August, aligning closely with market expectations. However, the core Consumer Price Index, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, edged up by a hotter-than-expected 0.3% for the month. This persistent underlying price strength prompted investors to price in an estimated 87% chance of a interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next week.

Oil prices experienced volatile trading conditions following geopolitical friction in the Gulf region, including attacks along shipping routes and the shutdown of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline. Although Brent crude futures pulled back by nearly 3% to settle at $104.61 a barrel on Friday, energy prices remained near multi-month highs for the week. Additionally, commercial consumers faced extra energy headwinds as domestic diesel costs reached a milestone of $6 a gallon.

Technology sector equities showcased notable resilience, anchored by massive institutional spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Dell shares surged 12% following a bullish Wall Street initiation report emphasizing the data computational needs of agentic AI. Concurrently, Oracle saw its stock price climb after outperforming fiscal first-quarter expectations and booking more than $30 billion in new AI cloud contracts.