The technology-heavy Nasdaq fell on the day and the S&P 500 fell slightly, but both indexes remained near recent highs.
“The market is pretty much pricing in a soft landing right now, pricing in inflation being overcome and the Fed being able to cut rates without doing too much damage to the economy,” he said. said Liz Young Thomas, head of investment strategy at SoFi in New York.
The Department of Commerce reported that consumer spending increased moderately while inflationary pressures continued to ease. Separately, the University of Michigan’s final measure of consumer sentiment for September came in at 70.1, beating economists’ expectations of 69.3, according to a Reuters poll.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 137.89 points, or 0.33%, to 42,313.00, the S&P 500 index fell 7.20 points, or 0.13%, to 5,738.17, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 70.70 points, or 0.39%, to 18,119.59.
The Russell 2000 Index, which measures small-cap stocks that are performing well in a low interest rate environment, rose 0.67%, hitting a one-week high. Nvidia shares fell 2.17%, weighing on the technology-heavy Nasdaq. Investors currently marginally support the possibility of a 50 basis point rate cut at the next Fed meeting, with a 52.1% chance, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, a coin toss ahead of the data. It is rising more than that.
The Fed cut interest rates by 50 bps last week as price pressures cooled. The focus now shifts to a number of labor market reports to be released next week.
Among individual stocks, Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 1.58% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug to treat schizophrenia.
Costco Wholesale fell 1.76% due to weak fourth-quarter sales.
U.S.-listed stocks of Chinese companies such as Alibaba rose 2.15%, PDD Holdings 4.67% and NetEase 2.65% as China’s central bank lowered interest rates and injected liquidity into the banking system. rose.
The optimism extended to miners, with Arcadium rising 2.13% and BHP’s US-listed shares rising 1.81%.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of 1.82 to 1. On the New York Stock Exchange, 605 stocks hit new highs and 31 stocks hit new lows.
The S&P 500 recorded 42 new highs and no new lows in 52 weeks, while the Nasdaq Composite Index recorded 74 new highs and 65 new lows.
Trading volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.5 billion shares, compared with an average of 11.87 billion shares traded over the past 20 trading days.
