05:01 PM EDT, 08/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose this week as quarterly earnings exceeded expectations and bets in favor of a September interest rate cut jumped amid the Trump administration's efforts to secure a Ukraine-Russia peace deal.

* The S&P 500 closed at 6,387.09 on Friday versus 6,238.01 a week ago. The Nasdaq Composite stood at 21,440.26 compared with 20,650.13, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 44,162.68 versus 43,588.58 at the end of last week.

* Information technology, consumer discretionary, and communication services led the gainers this week, while energy was among the worst performers.

* Mag-7 constituents Apple ( AAPL ) , Tesla (TSLA), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Nvidia ( NVDA ) , and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) were among the top 20 biggest gainers in a category with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion. Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ) was the top gainer in this category, with shares up more than 21% this week, after the company's Q2 results topped estimates, as sales in the US increased.

* The odds of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September shot up to 89% as of Friday afternoon, from 80% a week ago and 61% from a month earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool, as macroeconomic data remained weak.

* The Institute for Supply Management's U.S. services index fell to 50.1 in July from 50.8 in June, compared with the 51.5 expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.

* Initial jobless claims rose to 226,000 in the week ended Aug. 2, up from an upwardly revised 219,000 in the previous week, compared with expectations for 222,000 in a Bloomberg survey.

* Washington and Moscow are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia's occupation of territory seized, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. US and Russian officials are working toward an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the people told Bloomberg.