U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, yet all three major indexes managed to achieve monthly gains in August. Investors opted to lock in profits following the S&P 500 index's record high and the release of robust earnings reports by Nvidia. Economic data revealed that the U.S. core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation rate surged to 2.9% in July, underscoring the economic repercussions of Trump's tariff policy. This closely monitored inflation indicator met Federal Reserve expectations, fueling widespread anticipation of an interest rate cut in September. Furthermore, consumer spending rose by 0.5%, while personal income increased by 0.4%. Among individual stocks, Tesla unveiled a new high-performance Model Y, Apple confronted data access demands from the UK government, Google saw a significant number of executive departures, Caterpillar warned of tariff-related losses, Dell and Marvell Technology fell short of earnings estimates, and Ulta Beauty raised its earnings guidance.