Ulta Beauty, Salesforce, Paramount Skydance, and More

Major U.S. equities indexes rose Friday afternoon after key inflation data came in lower than expected, boosting hopes the Federal Reserve will decide to cut interest rates next week. The S&P 500 and Dow edged up about 0.1% to near their all-time highs. The Nasdaq also ticked 0.1% higher.

Ulta Beauty (ULTA) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, with shares up about 14% after the cosmetics and fragrance retailer posted better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its outlook.

Shares of Victoria’s Secret (VSCO) also took off, jumping 11% after the lingerie retailer reported strong earnings and hiked its guidance, citing lower promotional costs and higher prices.

Salesforce (CRM) climbed over 5%, extending its recent gains after the software giant posted better-than-expected earnings with a boost from growing sales of its Agentforce AI offerings and Data 360 products.

Paramount Skydance (PSKY) shares slumped nearly 8% after it lost a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) film and streaming properties to Netflix (NFLX). Shares of Netflix were 3% lower, while Warner Bros. Discovery shares gained 2%.

W.R. Berkley (WRB) shares tumbled 7% after the insurer announced that Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance took a 12.5% stake in the firm.

Oil and gold futures advanced. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.13%. The U.S. dollar rose versus the yen, but lost ground to the euro and pound. Most major cryptocurrencies lost ground.