Today in the stock market, Wall Street showed resilience following its worst loss in months. The S&P 500 saw a 0.6% increase in morning trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 113 points, or 0.3%, by 10:15 a.m. Eastern time. Additionally, the Nasdaq composite experienced a rise of 0.8%.
Reports on the state of the economy surpassed earlier recession expectations, alleviating concerns about inflationary pressures. This data may provide the Federal Reserve with the necessary evidence for a potential slowdown in inflation, a key factor for investors awaiting interest rate cuts. A day earlier, the market witnessed a sharp decline after the Fed chair expressed a need for more evidence before considering rate cuts.
Lower interest rates are generally favorable for various investments, especially benefiting high-growth stocks. Tech stocks, which had previously suffered a setback, rebounded from the previous day’s losses. Companies like Microsoft, up 2.4%, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rising 1.3%, saw recovery after reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter.
Amid high expectations for Big Tech stocks, including Apple, Amazon, and Meta Platforms, reporting their results after trading hours, investors are eager for positive numbers to justify their significant market gains.
Align Technology, the maker of Invisalign teeth aligners, outperformed expectations in both profit and revenue, leading to a 6.3% increase in its stock. Merck also reported profits and revenue above analysts’ estimates, resulting in a 2% climb in its stock.
On the downside, MetLife saw a 4.6% decline despite surpassing profit and revenue expectations. The drop was attributed to its 2024 forecast, which raised concerns among analysts. Peloton Interactive fell by 20.8% after providing a revenue forecast below analysts’ expectations, despite meeting predictions for the latest quarter.
New York Community Bancorp. continued its decline, falling 11.4% following a significant drop the day before, driven by a larger-than-expected quarterly loss and a dividend cut to bolster financial strength. The unexpected report led to a broader decline in stocks of other regional banks, reviving memories of the previous year’s banking crisis.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.88% from 3.92%, influenced by a report indicating slightly higher-than-expected unemployment benefit applications. The market is hoping for a job market cooldown to mitigate inflationary pressures.
Encouragingly, a separate report highlighted increased productivity among U.S. workers in the last quarter of 2023, exceeding expectations. Strong productivity growth could allow for larger wage raises without contributing to inflationary concerns.
Later in the morning, data indicated an improvement in the U.S. manufacturing industry, which had struggled for over a year due to high-interest rates. While manufacturing activity shrank for the 15th consecutive month in January, it was less than economists anticipated. The growth in new orders is seen as a positive sign for the industry, although concerns arise as prices for raw materials increased in January after eight months of decreases.
Traders are adjusting their expectations, with increasing bets on the Federal Reserve initiating interest rate cuts in May, a shift from earlier expectations of March. This change, if implemented, would mark a notable reversal after the Fed raised its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001 in an effort to control inflation.
In global stock markets, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2% after the Bank of England announced its decision to maintain its main interest rate at a near 16-year high, citing unexpected inflation in Britain reaching 4% in December. Index performance varied across Europe and Asia.
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