By Sinéad Carew and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

(Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Dow scored record closing highs on Friday, with the big boosts from financial stocks after banks reported strong quarterly results while the latest inflation data fueled expectations for a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut in November.

Major financial companies kicked off earnings season with JPMorgan Chase finishing the session up 4.4% after the lender reported higher-than-expected third-quarter profit and raised its annual interest income forecast.

Shares in Wells Fargo rallied 5.6% after its profit also beat analysts’ expectations. BlackRock stock gained 3.6% after the asset manager reported that its assets under management had hit a record high for the third straight quarter.

Other stocks in the industry rose broadly, making the S&P 500 Financials index the biggest index points boost for the benchmark.

“We’d some good earnings reports from some leading financial companies. That’s a good start to earnings season,” said Evan Brown, Portfolio Manager and Head of Multi-Asset Strategy, UBS Asset Management, adding that it bodes well for the economy.

“When financials do well, this is what a soft landing looks like. It’s a positive overall sign for the economy and sets a positive tone for earnings releases in other industries in the next few weeks.”

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 409.74 points, or 0.97%, to 42,863.86, the S&P 500 gained 34.98 points, or 0.61%, to 5,815.03 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 60.89 points, or 0.33%, to 18,342.94.

For the week, the S&P 500 added 1.1% while the Dow climbed 1.2% and the Nasdaq added 1.1% with all three notching their fifth weekly gain in a row.

Earlier in the day, data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed the Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand was unchanged on a monthly basis in September, compared to the 0.1% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Friday’s PPI data follows Thursday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading, which was slightly higher than forecast, although weekly jobless claims rose more than expected.

“The market’s pretty convinced that we’re going to have a soft landing and that inflation, even with CPI being a little bit higher than expected yesterday, is going to be moderate,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri.

“If you look at today’s PPI data, the core and final demand were both a little lower than expected … Inflation’s certainly been moderating and that’s a positive that the market paid attention to.”

Meanwhile, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s October consumer sentiment index stood at 68.9, compared with analysts’ estimate of 70.8.

With the week’s data under their belts, traders kept bets steady for a roughly 88% probability the Fed would cut rates by 25 basis points at its November meeting, and a 12% chance it will leave rates unchanged, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

During the session the consumer discretionary index was under pressure from an 8.8% slump in shares of Tesla after the EV maker unveiled its long awaited robotaxi, but did not provide details on how fast it could ramp up production or deal with potential regulatory hurdles.

With S&P 500 financial services stocks adding 1.95%, the S&P 500 Banks index added 4.2%. During the session it hit its highest level since February 2022. The KBW regional bank index closed up 3.4%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.96-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 455 new highs and 44 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 3,142 stocks rose and 1,088 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.89-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 69 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 139 new highs and 84 new lows.

On U.S. exchanges 10.27 billion shares changed hands compared with the 12.06 billion moving average for the last 20 sessions.

(Reporting by Sinéad Carew, Lisa Mattackal and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and David Gregorio)

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