Wall Street Today: S&P 500 Rebounds on Tech Boost; weekly jobless claims increase
Wall StreetMajor indexes have been under pressure in recent days, with the benchmark down 3.6% over the past five sessions on expectations of a longer rate hike cycle and negative views on the economy. of some business leaders.
However, investors took some comfort on Thursday after data showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week, while unemployment figures hit a 10-month high. towards the end of November.
“More and more people are filing unemployment claims, which shows that the workforce is weakening a bit,” said Thomas Hayes, president of Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
“It’s just one data point leading the Fed to cool its aggressive hikes, but it doesn’t change December’s 50 basis points (rate hike). The key will be the data between December and February as to what they will do next.”
The report follows data last Friday that showed U.S. employers hired more workers than expected in November and raised wages, sparking fears the Fed may stick to its aggressive stance as it attempts to controlling high inflation for decades.
The Producer Price Index and Consumer Sentiment Survey from the University of Michigan on Friday and consumer price data for November next week will also be in focus ahead of the policy decision by the Fed on December 14.
Investors see a 91% chance that the US central bank will raise the main policy rate by 50 basis points to 4.25-4.50%, with rates peaking in May 2023 at 4.94%.
The U.S. central bank raised its key rate by 375 basis points this year in the fastest increases since the 1980s.
The aggressive approach has stoked fears of a recession, with top executives at major U.S. financial institutions including JPMorgan, BlackRock and Citi forecasting a likely economic downturn in 2023.
Adding to fears, the yield curve between 2-year and 10-year Treasuries has also widened in recent days.
At 10:43 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones The industrial average rose 241.67 points, or 0.72%, to 33,839.59, the S&P 500 rose 32.12 points, or 0.82%, to 3,966.04, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 130.60 points, or 1.19%, to 11,089.15.
Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indices rose, led by a 1.5% gain in technology stocks.
Energy stocks rose 0.6% as oil prices rose following the easing of anti-COVID measures in China and the delay of some tankers carrying Russian oil.
Most mega-cap tech and growth stocks such as Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Amazon.com rose between 1.4% and 4.2%.
Salesforce Inc fell after Baird downgraded the software company’s stock to “neutral”, while Rent the Runway Inc jumped 33.9% after the clothing rental company raised its 2022 revenue forecast .
Advancing issues outnumbered declining issues with a 3.36-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered declining issues with a 2.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 53 new highs and 132 new lows.
