S&P 500 nears record high as Powell signals imminent rate cut
For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.
Fed's Powell says 'time has come' to cut interest rates
GM up after Cruise to offer robotaxis on Uber's platform
Workday jumps after Q2 revenue beat, $1 bln share buyback plan
Indexes up: Dow 0.7%, S&P 500 1.01%, Nasdaq 1.45%
Updated at 10:05 a.m. ET/1405 GMT
By Medha Singh and Johann M Cherian
Aug 23 (Reuters) -Wall Street's stock indexes jumped onFriday, with the benchmark S&P 500 index nearing a record high, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said "the time has come" to reduce interest rates.
At a highly anticipated annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Powell endorsed imminent policy easing citing risks in the job market and inflation coming within reach of the Fed's 2% target.
The S&P 500 extended early gains and was less than 1% away from surpassing a record high clinched in July, after falling as much as 9.7% from that level earlier this month.
Megacap growth names such as Meta META.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O climbed 1% each, boosting the index, while chip stocks such as Nvidia NVDA.O and Broadcom AVGO.O rose more than 3% each.
At 10:05 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 302.68 points, or 0.74%, to 41,015.46, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 56.13 points, or 1.01%, to 5,626.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 255.03 points, or 1.45%, to 17,874.38.
The three indexes wereon track for their second straight week of gains, with the S&P 500 poised for an over 1% rise.
All S&P 500 sectors advanced, led by a 1.4% rise in technology stocks .SPLRCT, while the Philadelphia chip index .SOX advanced 2.2%.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the Fed is on the cusp of being in a position to start lowering its benchmark interest rate, according to areport.
The Fed is scheduled to meet on Sept. 17 and 18, with traders pricing in a 71.5% chance that the central bank will cut borrowing costs by 25 basis points, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
"The market has been predicting the first rate cut to start going back to March of this year and investors have been disappointed multiple times," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York.
"The only question is by how much and, unlike the sprinters in the Olympics, the Fed will not explode out of the blocks with a 50-basis-point cut."
Minutes from the Fed's July meeting this week showed a number of policymakers were ready to consider rate cuts come September, while recent economic data signaled the U.S. economy was slowing, albeit gradually, assuaging fears over a sharp downturn.
That has helped Wall Street's three main indexes recover from a plunge earlier this month triggered by a dour July employment report and yen carry trade.
Among other movers on Friday, Workday WDAY.O shares jumped 11.2% after the human resource software provider beat market expectations for second-quarter revenue and announced a $1 billion stock buyback plan.
Cruise will offer its autonomous vehicles on ride-hailing platform Uber UBER.N starting next year, the companies said, as the General Motors-backed GM.N robotaxi firm attempts a comeback, sending shares of the automaker up 2.2%.
Ross Stores ROST.O gained 3.8% after the discount retailer raised its fiscal 2024 profit forecast.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 9.02-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.95-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 52 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 57 new highs and 25 new lows.
Energy and tech sector have lagged S&P 500 so far this week https://tmsnrt.rs/3AA7YLr
Reporting by Medha Singh and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
