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August PCE figures in line with expectations

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Truck maker Paccar ( PCAR ) shares up as Trump imposes new tariffs

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Indexes: Dow up 0.7%, S&P 500 up 0.6%, Nasdaq up 0.4%

(Updates close with volume, individual share moves)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on

Friday after mostly in-line U.S. inflation data, but the three

major indexes posted losses for the week.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped three-week streaks of weekly

gains.

The Commerce Department's personal consumption

expenditures

index report

for August showed inflation behaving as expected while

personal income and consumer spending surprised to the upside.

Prices rose by 0.3% last month, and by 2.7% year-over-year,

hitting the consensus estimate. The PCE index is considered the

Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure.

Market participants have been weighing signs of a

stronger economy against expectations for more interest rate

cuts from the Fed. Last week, the U.S. central bank cut rates

for the first time since December and indicated more cuts were

on the way.

Investors are questioning what the Fed's path is going

to be from here, and are positioning for quarter-end, said Bruce

Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management in

Plymouth, Massachusetts.

"To me, it's typical of quarter-end window dressing...

You're going to have some volatility during this period and in

the subsequent weeks because you have earnings coming," he said.

The S&P 500's third-quarter earnings season kicks off around

mid-October.

Also, shares of truck maker Paccar ( PCAR ), which makes

most of its trucks for the U.S. market domestically, rose 5.2%

the day after President Donald Trump unveiled fresh import

tariffs, including on heavy-duty trucks.

Trump also slapped new tariffs on branded pharmaceutical

products, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities along with

upholstered furniture. Drugmaker Eli Lilly gained 1.4%.

Electronic Arts ( EA ) shares jumped 14.9% after reports

that the videogame publisher was in advanced talks to go

private.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 299.97 points,

or 0.65%, to 46,247.29, the S&P 500 gained 38.98 points,

or 0.59%, to 6,643.70 and the Nasdaq Composite gained

99.37 points, or 0.44%, to 22,484.07.

For the week, the Dow was down 0.2%, the S&P 500 was

down 0.3% and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.

Investors also took in the latest comments from Fed

officials. Richmond Fed Bank President Thomas Barkin, in an

interview with Bloomberg Television, said he had very low

confidence in inflation forecasts, as tariffs continue to impact

the economy.

However, Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman cited recent labor

market data and said it was time "to act decisively and

proactively to address decreasing labor market dynamism and

emerging signs of fragility."

Investors are anxious to see the September U.S.

employment report, due next Friday.

Also on the horizon, a potential government shutdown

could disrupt data releases and add uncertainty to the markets.

Costco Wholesale ( COST ) fell 2.9%, a day after the company

reported quarterly results.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.25-to-1

ratio on the NYSE. There were 205 new highs and 53 new lows on

the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 2,920 stocks rose and 1,729 fell as

advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.69-to-1 ratio.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.98 billion shares,

compared with the 18.11 billion average for the full session

over the last 20 trading days.

(Additional reporting by Niket Nishant, Sukriti Gupta and Purvi

Agarwal in Bengaluru and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by

Shilpi Majumdar and David Gregorio)