NEW YORK, Oct 2 — The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rose today as most growth stocks gained, while investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and more data this week to gauge the central bank’s interest-rate path.
Megacap stocks including Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Alphabet and Microsoft advanced between 0.9 per cent and 2.0 per cent.
Nvidia rose 3.1 per cent after Goldman Sachs added the chipmaker’s stock to its conviction list.
Limiting gains in the S&P 500, Tesla dipped 0.7 per cent after the EV maker missed market estimates for third-quarter deliveries.
Information technology stocks jumped 1.2 per cent while utilities, often considered as a bond proxy, were the top decliner amongst the major S&P 500 sectors, down 2.6 per cent.
Investors await Powell and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker’s comments during a roundtable discussion, due 11 am ET. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will also speak later in the day.
A final estimate of S&P Global September Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 49.8, versus a preliminary estimate of 48.9 released in September.
Separately, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said today that its manufacturing PMI increased to 49.0 last month, the highest reading since November 2022, from 47.6 in August.
Traders’ bets on the benchmark rate remained unchanged for November and December at nearly 69 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively, according to CME’s FedWatch tool, while they have priced in a 25-basis-point rate cut as early as March.
“The Fed has said that their target is still 2 per cent and they are still long ways away from getting inflation really going in the direction that they want,” said Russell Hackmann, President of Hackmann Wealth Partners.
Yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up today, touching 16-year highs again, while the yield on the 2-year note, which best reflects interest rate expectations, remained above 5 per cent.
Investors await job openings data tomorrow leading to the crucial monthly jobs report at the end of the week for more clues on the Fed’s interest-rate path.
US stocks ended the July-September period lower to log their first quarterly decline in 2023 as investors grappled with the prospects of interest rates remaining higher for longer amid a recent rally in crude prices fueling inflation concerns.
Relieving some concerns, the Congress on Saturday passed a stopgap funding bill with overwhelming Democratic support after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed down from an earlier demand by his party’s hardliners for a partisan bill.
At 10.04am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 55.31 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 33,452.19, the S&P 500 was up 7.16 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 4,295.21, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 100.19 points, or 0.76 per cent, at 13,319.51.
Coinbase climbed 4.1 per cent after the cryptocurrency exchange got the Singapore payments’ licence from the city-state’s central bank.
Viatris added 4.0 per cent after the drugmaker yesterday said it had reached agreements to divest some of its businesses for up to US$3.6 billion (RM16 billion).
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.52-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and 33 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 109 new lows. — Reuters