Consumers' inflation expectations, by some measures, are also the highest in decades. Inflation has been above the Fed's 2% target for over four years, and the prospect of a dovish Fed under the stewardship of a new Trump-friendly Chair could keep it that way.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting on Friday toward the finish of its third winning week in the last four, as more big U.S. companies deliver stronger profits for the spring than analysts expected.

The economy and the markets are "under surveillance" as we cover the latest in finance, economics and investment.

A healthy crop of earnings helped European stocks bust out of a four-day losing streak on Thursday, Wall Street was watching Netflix and the dollar bounced after U.S. President Donald Trump quashed talk he was about to fire Fed head Jerome Powell.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said policymakers should cut interest rates this month to boost a job market that looks to be weakening.

This past April, when President Donald Trump started flirting with the notion of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, stocks and the dollar tumbled because investors worried that even talking about such a move crossed a red line.

JPMorgan's Brenda Duverce is initiating coverage on the AI startup today. Duverce said OpenAI stands to shake up the search market further in the years ahead, with an unrivaled brand and a $700 billion total addressable market potential.

The Nasdaq rose to a record high on Thursday, leading a cautious climb across Wall Street's major indexes, as strong economic data lifted spirits and airline stocks took off on United Airlines' results.