Wall St advances on soft landing optimism

[ad_1]

Wall St advances on soft landing optimism

Wall Street’s benchmark indexes have risen, rebounding from a week of heavy losses as investors remained optimistic about a soft landing scenario for the US economy ahead of a crucial inflation report later in the week.

Most megacap and growth stocks rose on Monday after falling sharply last week, with Tesla and Nvidia adding more than three per cent each.

Major chip stocks, which also saw heavy selling last week, regained some ground with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 1.8 per cent after tumbling more than four per cent on Friday.

Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with consumer discretionary and information technology rising more than one per cent each.

Global markets were rattled last week as uncertainty over the US economy’s health rippled across assets, adding fuel to an already volatile period that has investors grappling with a shift in the Federal Reserve’s policy and worries over stretched valuations.

Friday’s weaker-than-expected August jobs data spurred worries on economic growth, driving the Nasdaq Composite to its worst week since January 2022, while the S&P 500 saw its biggest weekly drop since March 2023.

Markets will be squarely focused on US consumer prices data on Wednesday that is expected to show a moderation in headline inflation in August to 2.6 per cent on a yearly basis, while on a monthly basis it is expected to remain unchanged at 0.2 per cent.

Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard said that while the inflation battle is not fully won, “it appears safe to say that the Fed should feel comfortable that inflation is sufficiently under control to begin moving monetary policy in a less restrictive direction.”

The report will be followed by producer prices data on Thursday.

Money markets currently see a 73 per cent chance of a 25-basis-point rate reduction by the Fed next week and expect a total monetary easing of 100 bps by the end of the year, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.

Debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday – the first time ahead of the presidential election on November 5 – will be closely eyed by the investors.

In early trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 199.46 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 40,535.85, the S&P 500 gained 46.00 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 5,454.42 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 185.94 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 16,876.78.

Among individual movers, Boeing advanced 3.3 per cent after the plane manufacturer and its biggest union reached a tentative deal covering more than 32,000 workers, averting a possible strike.

Eli Lilly climbed more than one per cent after the pharmaceutical company appointed insider Lucas Montarce as its chief financial officer.

Dell Technologies and Palantir rose 5.2 per cent and 9.9 per cent respectively, while Erie climbed 3.1 per cent as they are set to join the S&P 500 index on September 23.

These companies will replace American Airlines Group , Etsy and Bio-Rad Laboratories, respectively, in the index.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.88-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by 1.72-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 12 new highs and 59 new lows.

[ad_2]

Source link

#Wall #advances #soft #landing #optimism

Related posts

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica becomes world’s tallest church

Does Trump’s nuclear testing raise the stakes

Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of destruction across Caribbean