Sept 13 - U.S. stocks advanced on Friday and gold continued to hit record highs as investors looked to whether the Federal Reserve might move more aggressively to cut rates at its policy meeting next week.
In midday trading, all three major U.S. indexes were higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average , was up 0.72%, the MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe , rose 5.28 points, or 0.64%, to 826.87. "It’s true that many rate-cutting cycles have indeed begun with a heftier chop, but typically against the backdrop of financial market stress—with the S&P 500 just 1% off its peak, and U.S. household net worth at a record high, it’s tough to point to financial stress," wrote Douglas Porter, chief economist for BMO Capital Markets.
Benchmark 10-year Treasuries rallied, pushing yields down 3.1 basis points to 3.65%. Yields on two-year bonds , which closely track interest rate expectations, dropped 6.8 bps to 3.5803%.