The benchmark S&P 500 stock index on Friday clinched its longest bull-market run, closing above its previous January high, as US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirmed the US central bank’s current pace of rate hikes.
The S&P had last reached a new closing high on Jan. 26, then retreated more than 10 percent, a correction that lasted until Feb. 8.
Friday’s new closing high confirmed that the index’s bull run remained intact.
Speaking at a research symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell said the Fed’s gradual interest rate hikes were the best way to protect the economic recovery, maintain strong job growth and keep inflation under control in the US.
His comments did little to change market expectations of a rate hike next month and perhaps again in December.
Investors said they were reassured that Powell’s comments stayed in line with previous commentary from the Fed regarding policy.
Photo: Reuters
Economic data also boosted sentiment.
New orders for key US-made capital goods last month increased more than expected and shipments growth held firm, the US Department of Commerce said.
“That’s what the markets wanted to hear,” said Oliver Pursche, chief market strategist at Bruderman Asset Management in New York. “The economic data and strong environment as a whole is the basis, and [Powell] didn’t get in the way.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday rose 133.37 points, or 0.52 percent, to 25,790.35, the S&P 500 gained 17.71 points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,874.69 and the NASDAQ Composite added 67.52 points, or 0.86 percent, to 7,945.98.
For the week, the Dow added 0.47 percent, the S&P gained 0.87 percent, and the NASDAQ increased 1.66 percent.
The small-cap Russell 2000 index also advanced 0.5 percent to reach a new closing high.
A dip in the US dollar after Powell’s comments helped lift materials and energy stocks as the prices of oil and metals rose.
The S&P 500 materials sector jumped 1.2 percent, the biggest percentage gain among the 11 major S&P sectors.
Netflix Inc shares rose 5.8 percent to add the most gains to the S&P 500 after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded its rating on the stock to “buy” and projected that third-quarter subscriber growth would match or beat Wall Street estimates.
Autodesk Inc shares leaped 15.3 percent, the greatest percentage gain among S&P 500 stocks, after the software maker’s quarterly results beat estimates.
Shares of Gap Inc and Foot Locker Inc sank 8.6 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively, after the two retailers posted disappointing same-store sales.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by a 2.50-to-1 ratio; on NASDAQ, a 1.76-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 36 new 52-week highs and four new lows; the NASDAQ Composite recorded 150 new highs and 31 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 5.43 billion shares, compared with the 6.28 billion average over the past 20 trading days.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
RSS