Stock market today: Wall Street aims for records ahead of an important week for central banks | National News

NEW YORK (`) — Stock prices rose Monday ahead of a busy week for central banks around the world that could determine the direction of interest rates.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1% in morning trading, posting its first consecutive weekly loss since October. It's near its all-time high from early last week, and Nvidia and other big tech stocks led the way, as is now usual.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 144 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.7% higher.

The highlight for Wall Street this week is likely to be the Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting, which ends on Wednesday. The widespread expectation is that the central bank will keep its key interest rate stable at its highest level since 2001.

But Fed officials will also provide updated forecasts about where interest rates will head this year and in the long term. They had previously planned three interest rate cuts this year that would ease pressure on the economy and financial system.

However, the latest inflation reports have consistently been worse than expected. That could force the Fed to say it will cut interest rates less this year.

Such a move would be a bitter disappointment for Wall Street, where stock prices have already surged partly on expectations of lower interest rates. Because of these expectations, Treasury yields in the bond market have also fallen since last fall, although they have been able to offset those losses due to concerns about persistently high inflation.

It's possible the Fed will keep its key interest rate near current levels all year long, according to Joe Davis, Vanguard's chief economist. The investment giant recently raised its baseline outlook for the U.S. economy in 2024, indicating no recession, but also slightly raised its forecast for underlying inflation trends.

Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan will announce its latest interest rate decision on Tuesday. It hasn't touched its key interest rate in 17 years as it has kept interest rates below zero in hopes of stimulating the economy and inflation.

Speculation is growing that Japanese workers' wages will rise so much that the Bank of Japan will finally be able to raise interest rates.

Across the Atlantic, the Bank of England will announce its latest interest rate decision later in the week.

On Wall Street, Nvidia rose 2.6% at the start of its annual developer conference. According to analysts, the general expectation is that Nvidia will unveil its next-generation artificial intelligence architecture, along with the growing use cases for AI.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote speech after the close of trading on Wall Street and hold a question-and-answer session with financial analysts on Tuesday.

An uproar over AI technology on Wall Street has sent shares of Nvidia and other players soaring that critics are calling it a bubble. Nvidia has become the third largest stock on the US stock market. Nvidia was once again one of the strongest forces driving the S&P 500 higher on Monday.

On the losing side on Wall Street was Hertz Global Holdings, which fell 7.5%, widening its year-to-date loss to 32.4%. Its chairman and CEO, Stephen Scherr, will step down at the end of March. The company named Wayne “Gil” West as CEO. He is a former executive at Cruise, the self-driving car company, and Delta Air Lines.

Trading was mixed on Wall Street, with smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index falling 0.3%.

Boeing fell another 1.6%, bringing its annual loss to 31.1%. The company has been struggling with concerns about its manufacturing quality and the latest negative headline came on Friday. Workers found a missing panel on an older Boeing 737-800 after it arrived at its destination in southern Oregon from San Francisco.

On the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield remained steady at 4.31% late Friday.

In overseas stock markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2.7%. Shares of Nissan Motor and Honda Motor Co. rose after the two automakers agreed to partner on electric vehicles.

Aside from a 1% rise in stocks in Shanghai, moves elsewhere in Asia and Europe were much more modest.

` business reporters Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

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