Stock Market Live October 24: S&P 500 (SPY) Running on Lower Than Expected Inflation

Key Points

The latest inflation numbers should pave the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its two remaining meetings this year.
Intel is running after posting third-quarter sales that were above expectations.
Nvidia made early investors rich, but there is a new class of ‘Next Nvidia Stocks’ that could be even better; learn more here.

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Dow Rises 300 Points on Cooler than Expected CPI

Oct 24, 2025 at 9:54 AM EDT

The major indices could see higher highs, especially with inflation cooler than expected.

In fact, CPI, or the consumer price index, hit 3%, which was lower than the 3.1% expected for September. Then, once we cut out food and energy, core CPI showed a 0.2% monthly gain and an annual rate also at 3%, compared to estimates of 0.3% and 3.1%, respectively.

The Dow is up about 400 points. The S&P 500 is up about 55, as the NASDAQ tacks on another 235 points of upside. All as CPI paves the way for more interest rate cuts.

The major indices could see higher highs, especially with inflation cooler than expected.

CPI, or the consumer price index, hit 3%, which was lower than the 3.1% expected for September.

Once we cut out food and energy, core CPI showed a 0.2% monthly gain and an annual rate also at 3%, compared to estimates of 0.3% and 3.1%, respectively. These numbers should pave the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its two remaining meetings this year.

Several strong earnings are helping, too.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), for example, is up after posting third-quarter sales that were above expectations. Revenue of $13.65 billion was above expectations of $13.14 billion. Net income of $4.1 billion, or 90 cents per share, was reported. That’s comparable to a net loss in the year-ago quarter of $16.6 billion, which was also reported. As a result, analysts at Morgan Stanley reiterated its equal weight rating on Intel, noting that earnings were encouraging.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) posted adjusted EPS of $1.99 per share, which was above expectations of $1.90. Revenue of $22.39 billion was above estimates for $22.18 billion.

Analysts Just Resumed Coverage of Amazon

Analysts at KeyBanc Capital say Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) should benefit from the AI boom.

“AWS has still been growing absolute revenue dollars near or better than competitors. Further, we view the ramp of gigawatt data center clusters (e.g., Project Rainier) and customers like Anthropic as a potential driver of revenue acceleration into 2026. In short, we would be surprised if AWS was left behind in the AI revolution,” said the firm, as quoted by CNBC.

The analysts have an overweight rating on AMZN with a $300 price target.

Analysts at JPMorgan upgraded Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) to an overweight rating with a price target of $404, up from $342. The firm points to “Coinbase’s exploration of launching a potential Base token, which he sees as accelerating the growth of development on the Base blockchain, launched in August 2023,” as also noted by CNBC.

And analysts at Jefferies just reiterated a buy rating on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ahead of earnings next week. They believe earnings will be driven higher by Azure, M365, strong bookings growth, and its contributions to artificial intelligence.