The Dow edged higher while Treasury yields slipped on Wednesday as investors tried to assess the timing of possible interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, while the dollar eased off of a three-month peak against the yen.
The Dow had its worst day in 11 months as US inflation numbers all but wiped out hopes of aggressive rate cuts in the first half of this year.
The Dow closed at record highs Monday, led by energy stocks ahead of a busy week of top-tier economy data, and fresh round of corporate earnings.
Equities surged higher with the S&P500 closing above 5,000 for the first time on Friday and Nasdaq briefly traded above 16,000, with boosts from megacaps and chip stocks, including Nvidia as investors bet on artificial intelligence technology and eyed strong earnings data.
The S&P 500 finished little changed on Thursday after briefly topping the 5,000 milestone for the first time on record.
The broad-based index edged up 0.06% to finish at 4,997.91 after reaching a high of 5,000.40 heading into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48.97 points, or 0.13%, to end at 38,726.33, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% to close at 15,793.71.
Equities The S&P 500 rallied Wednesday closing at a record high and just shy of 5,000 level as bullish bets on stocks continued, with consumer stocks leading the charge following an earnings-led rally in Chipotle and Ford.
Equities staged a late dash from the lows of the day as the race to record highs resumed following a recent stumble as broadening out of the rally on stronger corporate earnings helped soften the blow from chip-led weakness in tech stocks.
An pressured by a McDonald’s-driven wobble in consumer stocks and jump in Treasury yields after Chairman Jerome Powell shackled hopes of a sooner interest rate cut.
An extreme rally in Meta platform (Facebook) stoked bullish bets on big tech even as a blowout jobs report muddied the Federal Reserve rate-cut outlook.
Tech investors ignored the Fed’s warnings of “higher rates for longer” and bought the dip overnight leading into 16% of the S&P500 delivering earnings after the bell. Meanwhile uranium investors rejoiced at 17-year highs as the worlds biggest producer, Kazatomprom, flagged a 20% reduction in forecasted production leaving a 5% supply gap.
Tech stocks led the market lower as the Federal Reserve’s chairman Jerome Powell said it was unlikely that the Fed would cut rates in March, dealing a blow to hopes for sooner rate cut that added fuel to the tech-led selloff.
Stocks were mixed leading into Mega Cap earnings from Microsoft and Google which were released after the bell as continued strength in the labour market relieved pressure on the Fed to bring forward rate cuts
