Stocks are treading water with the Dow Jones poised to make another bid for 40,000

US stocks regrouped on Friday as Wall Street prepared for another attempt to reach bullish milestones with investors hesitant about the prospect of an interest rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) held steady after touching the key 40,000 level for the first time during Thursday’s trading. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.1% as well, with all metrics on track for weekly gains.

Stocks rose sharply following comments from Federal Reserve officials who warned that interest rates are likely to remain at historic highs for a while. This dampened enthusiasm for the prospect of interest rate cuts in September, which had been lifted by encouraging inflation data.

Read more: How does the labor market affect inflation?

Friday’s light economic and corporate docket leaves just a few jumping-off points for the Dow Jones to make another attempt at crossing the major juncture, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have new records within reach.

This highlights the appearance of the Fed’s Mary Daly and Christopher Waller on Friday. The market will listen for any deviation from their colleagues’ message that the Fed will watch the data and wait for clear signs of inflation slowing before making any move.

In individual moves, Reddit (RDDT) shares jumped 15% after the open, not far from their highest close of $65.11 in March. The social media platform has signed a partnership with OpenAI which will see ChatGPT integrate content from its forums.

Meanwhile, GameStop (GME) shares fell more than 20% after the gaming retailer said it expects first-quarter sales to decline as shoppers turn to online outlets. Shares in meme stocks soared at the start of the week in an echo of 2021’s madness, but the rise has turned into a decline in recent days.