- Hezbollah vows to punish Israel after deadly pager blasts
- Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1
- Global police sting targets users of organised crime app
- Tupperware Brands files for bankruptcy
- 'End of an era': UK to shut last coal-fired power plant
- The absurd helps us 'see more' says Austrian artist Wurm
- Ethiopia plagued by abductions 'epidemic'
- Boeing not taking strike talks seriously, union says
- Afghan women continue medical studies in Scotland after Taliban ban
- Local, foreign firms facing months of recovery in storm-hit Vietnam
- Goorjian steps down as coach of Australian basketball team
- Wave of exploding Hezbollah pagers kills nine, wounds thousands in Lebanon
- Women drive innovation, evolution of Chinese wine industry
- Three activists risking their lives for the planet
- China piles extra work on weary youth to ease pension crisis
- Cash-strapped Sri Lanka eyes China development
- Withdrawal symptoms: Afghan farmers struggle after poppy ban
- Verstappen vows Red Bull fightback as McLaren head to Singapore on top
- Asian markets fluctuate on uncertainty over Fed rate plan
- Trump says only 'consequential' presidents get shot at
- Yamal's Barca hopeful of Champions League revival
- Arsenal focus on Atalanta ahead of Man City showdown
- Russia intensifies disinformation ops against Harris campaign: Microsoft
- US Fed set to make first rate cut since 2020
- Chile birth rate plummets as women say no to motherhood
- Musk to deliver 'drastic' cuts to Trump government
- In Colombia, a river's 'rights' swept away by mining and conflict
- UN General Assembly to vote on call for end to Israeli occupation
- Chinese carrier sails through northeast Taiwan waters
- Google faces another test in EU court over 1.5-bn euro fine
- India's disputed Kashmir votes after special status scrapped
- In French Polynesia, boom in whale-based tourism sparks concern
- Farrell says resisted 'Sopranos' rewatch ahead of 'Penguin' mob role
- Once pop culture's party boy, Diddy sits behind bars pending trial
- North Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles
- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
Global stocks mostly rise as markets eye likely Fed rate cut
Wall Street stocks concluded a positive week with another upbeat session Friday, while European equities also advanced following a European Central Bank interest rate cut.
More data this week suggesting the Federal Reserve was winning the battle against inflation provided an extra kick for global equities after recent drops caused by worries of a possible US recession.
All three major US indices finished solidly higher, with the broad-based S&P 500 ending at 5,626.02, up 0.5 percent for the day and more than four percent for the week.
"There were no negative surprises," said CFRA Research's Sam Stovall. "The market has continued to creep back up to the all time high level."
Earlier, European markets closed in the green, a day after the ECB cut its own rates for the second time this year as inflation cools.
Asia's main stock markets diverged as they closed out the week.
The price of gold struck an all-time high of $2,583.45 per ounce, as lower interest rates tend to prop up the precious metal.
Among individual companies, Boeing shares fell 3.7 percent after Seattle region workers overwhelmingly rejected a four-year contract proposal, launching a strike that will shutter two major factories.
Investors are focused on the highly anticipated Fed meeting on Wednesday after data this week showed US consumer inflation slowed more than expected in August to 2.5 percent.
Having slashed rates in the early months of the pandemic, the Fed began hiking them in 2022 as inflation started to take hold, and they kept lifting until rates hit a two-decade high.
Now, with disinflation seemingly kicking in and the labor market softening, decision-makers are tipped to start cutting again, with debate on whether it will be a 25- or 50-basis-point move.
"Fears that the Federal Reserve may have kept interest rates too high for too long, thereby risking an economic 'hard landing' have dissipated," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at financial services provider Trade Nation.
Markets had panicked last month after weak US jobs figures raised concerns that the world's largest economy could be heading towards recession.
Analysts said the odds of a 50-basis-point cut have risen this week.
"Gold is the ultimate inflation hedge, so it has received a boost from prospects of a 50bp rate cut from the Fed," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at the XTB trading platform.
- Key figures around 2130 GMT -
New York - Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 41,393.78 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 5,626.02 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 17,683.98 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,273.09 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,465.25 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 18,699.40 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 36,581.76 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.8 percent at 17,369.09 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 2,704.09 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1079 from $1.1074 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3125 from $1.3124
Dollar/yen: UP at 140.76 yen from 140.73 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 84.40 pence from 84.37 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.5 percent at $71.61 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.5 percent at $71.61 per barrel
O.Bulka--BTB