All three major US stock indexes were up in late-morning trading Friday after the latest consumer price index showed inflation came in below expectations.
The US seasonally adjusted CPI rose by 0.3% in September, below expectations for a 0.4% gain in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a 0.4% increase in August, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose by 0.2%, less than the consensus estimate for a 0.3% increase after a 0.3% gain in August.
In company news, Intel (INTC) reported Q3 adjusted earnings late Thursday of $0.23 per diluted share, swinging from a loss of $0.46 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst expectation of $0.02. Third-quarter revenue was $13.70 billion, up from $13.30 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $13.17 billion. For Q4, the company expects adjusted EPS of $0.08 on revenue of $12.80 billion to $13.80 billion. Analysts expect EPS of $0.10 and revenue of $13.42 billion. Intel shares were up 0.2% around midday.
Procter & Gamble (PG) reported fiscal Q1 core earnings Friday of $1.99 per diluted share, up from $1.93 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $1.90. Fiscal Q1 net sales were $22.39 billion, up from $21.74 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $22.18 billion. Procter & Gamble shares were up 0.8%.
Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings Friday of $1.49 per diluted share, down from $1.81 a year earlier and below the FactSet consensus of $1.51. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $2.89 billion, down from $3.15 billion a year ago and below the FactSet consensus of $2.97 billion. For fiscal 2026, the company now expects adjusted EPS of $5.45 to $5.65 and revenue of $11.3 billion to $11.5 billion. Analysts are looking for $6.30 EPS on $12.06 billion in revenue. Previously, the company guided for full-year adjusted EPS of $6.20 to $6.55 and revenue of $12 billion to $12.5 billion. Booz Allen shares were down 7.6%.
IBM (IBM) said it has run a key quantum computing algorithm on readily available chips made by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), taking the company a step closer to commercializing supercomputers, Reuters reported Friday. IBM shares were up 7.2%, while those of AMD were up 6.5%.
Eli Lilly (LLY) has agreed to acquire Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM), including its lead product candidate, Ixo-vec, the companies said Friday. Lilly said it will acquire all of Adverum's outstanding shares for $3.56 per share in cash plus one non-transferable contingent value right that entitles holders to receive up to an additional $8.91 per contingent value right in cash upon the achievement of two milestones. Eli Lilly shares were up 1.4%, while those of Adverum were up 2.7%.
Amazon.com-backed (AMZN) Anthropic said Thursday it will expand its use of Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google Cloud technologies to boost its compute resources for artificial intelligence research and product development. Amazon shares were up 1.2%. Google's Class C shares were up 3.0%, while its Class A shares were up 2.9%.
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