{"id":52223,"date":"2025-08-22T16:38:41","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-rally-as-powell-hints-at-rate-cuts-us-takes-stake-in-intel-foot-locker-deal-approved\/52223\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T16:38:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:38:41","slug":"markets-rally-as-powell-hints-at-rate-cuts-us-takes-stake-in-intel-foot-locker-deal-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-rally-as-powell-hints-at-rate-cuts-us-takes-stake-in-intel-foot-locker-deal-approved\/52223\/","title":{"rendered":"Markets Rally as Powell Hints at Rate Cuts; US Takes Stake in Intel; Foot Locker Deal Approved"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>U.S. stock markets surged Friday<\/strong>, with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/dowjones\/today.aspx\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/DJI\">DJI<\/a>) closing up <strong>1.82%<\/strong> at <strong>45,601.21<\/strong>, as Federal Reserve Chair <strong>Jerome Powell<\/strong> hinted at potential interest rate cuts.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>U.S. government has acquired a 10% non-voting equity stake in Intel (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTC\">INTC<\/a>)<\/strong>, confirmed by Commerce Secretary <strong>Howard Lutnick<\/strong>, converting CHIPS Act grants into taxpayer equity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Foot Locker (<a href=\"\/stock\/FL\">FL<\/a>) shareholders overwhelmingly approved its $2.4 billion acquisition by DICK&#39;S Sporting Goods (<a href=\"\/stock\/DKS\">DKS<\/a>)<\/strong>, with the deal expected to finalize in the second half of 2025.<\/li>\n<li>U.S. bank deposits saw a modest weekly increase, rising to <strong>$18.368 trillion<\/strong> from <strong>$18.328 trillion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>U.S. equity markets closed significantly higher on Friday, driven by optimism following Federal Reserve Chair <strong>Jerome Powell&#39;s<\/strong> remarks at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. The <strong>Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/DJI\">DJI<\/a>) climbed <strong>815.71 points (1.82%)<\/strong> to reach <strong>45,601.21<\/strong>, while the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/sp500\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a><\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/SPX\">SPX<\/a>) gained <strong>95.20 points (1.49%)<\/strong> to <strong>6,465.37<\/strong>. The <strong>Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/IXIC\">IXIC<\/a>) also saw a strong close, rising <strong>385.56 points (1.83%)<\/strong> to <strong>21,485.87<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Powell&#39;s speech indicated a cautious pivot in monetary policy, suggesting that the &quot;shifting balance of risks&quot; to employment and inflation &quot;may warrant adjusting our policy stance.&quot; This statement fueled investor hopes for potential interest rate cuts, leading to a broad market rally and helping major indices recover from earlier weekly losses. <em>The Wall Street Journal&#39;s<\/em> <strong>Nick Timiraos<\/strong> had earlier reported that Powell might signal a reversal of key 2020-era policies, including flexible inflation targeting.<\/p>\n<p>In significant corporate news, the <strong>U.S. government has officially acquired a 10% ownership stake in semiconductor giant Intel (<a href=\"\/stock\/INTC\">INTC<\/a>)<\/strong>. U.S. Commerce Secretary <strong>Howard Lutnick<\/strong> confirmed the &quot;historic agreement,&quot; stating that the move converts previous grants under the CHIPS Act into non-voting equity for American taxpayers. This initiative, championed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> administration, aims to ensure the U.S. receives a return on its investment in domestic chip manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, <strong>Foot Locker (<a href=\"\/stock\/FL\">FL<\/a>) shareholders have given their overwhelming approval for the company&#39;s acquisition by DICK&#39;S Sporting Goods (<a href=\"\/stock\/DKS\">DKS<\/a>)<\/strong>. Approximately <strong>99% of votes cast<\/strong> were in favor of the merger agreement at a special meeting held today. The deal, valued at approximately <strong>$2.4 billion<\/strong>, is anticipated to be completed in the <strong>second half of 2025<\/strong>, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Shareholders will have the option to receive either <strong>$24.00 in cash<\/strong> or <strong>0.1168 shares of DICK&#39;S common stock<\/strong> for each <strong>Foot Locker<\/strong> share.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, U.S. bank deposits showed a slight increase, rising to <strong>$18.368 trillion<\/strong> from <strong>$18.328 trillion<\/strong> in the prior week. This modest growth reflects ongoing stability within the banking sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways U.S. stock markets surged Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closing up 1.82% at 45,601.21, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4382,31,1251,5951,1877,6053,3016,6634,3710,8058,3788,8059,3934,8844,4221,9203,4222,4380],"class_list":["post-52223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-semiconductor","tag-intc","tag-dks","tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","tag-spx","tag-bank-deposits","tag-dji","tag-intel","tag-federal-reserve","tag-dicks-sporting-goods","tag-ixic","tag-foot-locker","tag-fl","tag-jackson-hole","tag-jerome-powell","tag-government-stake","tag-interest-rates","tag-stock-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}