World Markets Today: US Stocks Gain as Jerome Powell Comments Fuel Rate Cut Hopes, Nasdaq Rises Over 1%
At 11:38 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 125.82 points, or 0.33 percent, at 38,786.87, the S&P 500 was up 44.25 points, or 0.87 percent, at 5,149.01 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 199 .87 points. or 1.25 percent, at 16,231.41.
At 9:32 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 219.73 points, or 0.57 percent, at 38,880.78, the S&P 500 was up 32.08 points, or 0.63 percent, at 5,136.84 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 111 .59 points. or 0.70 percent, at 16,143.14.
Powell said Thursday that the Federal Reserve is “not far away” from gaining enough confidence that inflation is moving toward the Fed's 2 percent target to begin cutting interest rates.
On Wednesday, he said the Federal Reserve expects to cut interest rates later this year.
“If the economy performs broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin unwinding policy restraint sometime this year,” Powell said in his remarks. “But the economic outlook is uncertain, and ongoing progress toward our 2% inflation target is also not assured,” he said.
At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123.25 points, or 0.32 percent, to 38,784.30. The S&P 500 opened 27.62 points, or 0.54 percent, higher at 5,132.38, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 115.78 points, or 0.72 percent, to 16,147.32.
Shares of Meta were up 2.7 percent, Nvidia was up 3.4 percent, Kroger was up 7.3 percent, American Eagle Outfitters was up 4.9 percent and New York Community Bancorp was up 7.5 percent .
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.10 percent from 4.11 percent late Wednesday.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose slightly by 0.2 percent to 7,695.30. France's CAC 40 rose 0.7 percent to 8,012.50. The German DAX rose 0.5 percent to 17,802.76.
The Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.9 percent to 4,959.09.
The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged for the fourth straight day on Thursday and cut its inflation forecast.
On Asian stock markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.3 percent to 16,229.78. China's Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 percent to 3,027.40. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 percent to 39,598.71.
Gold prices extended gains to hit an all-time high on Thursday after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell raised hopes of lower interest rates this year.
Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $2,157.51 an ounce as of 1003 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.3 percent to $2,165.20.
Oil prices fell on Thursday following Powell's comments.
Brent crude futures fell 42 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $82.54 a barrel by 1010 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 36 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 78. $77 per barrel fell.
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Published: Mar 07, 2024 8:16 PM IST
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