Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Thursday as market participants continue to digest the central bank’s latest interest rate decision.
As of 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.36% at 32,464.41, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.62% to 4,000.90 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 2.28% firmer at 11,935.46.
The Dow opened 434.30 points higher on Thursday, reclaiming some of the previous session’s heavy losses.
The FOMC’s move and comments from chairman Jerome Powell following the two-day meeting were still in focus early on Thursday, with the central bank hiking rates 0.25%, as predicted by economists. However, the Federal Reserve also seemed to indicate that its inflation-fighting tightening campaign may very well be drawing to a close as it stripped out any mention of “ongoing increases” from its statement.
Also in focus, the head of the Department of the Treasury said that her agency had not looked at expanding the country’s deposit insurance programme, although in individual cases that was a possibility if needed. In testimony to the Senate, Janet Yellen said that the Treasury had not looked at expanding the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s deposit insurance programme. During a contagious bank run, the Treasury will likely seek an exception that would allow such a move, but that would come on a case-by-case basis, she reportedly added.
On the macro front, weekly unemployment claims figures in the US continued to point to a tight jobs market. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the number of initial jobless claims fell by 20,000 over the week ending on 11 March to reach 192,000. Economists had pencilled-in a print of 201,000.
Elsewhere, sales of new single family houses rose 1.1% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 640,000 in February, according to the Census Bureau, the highest reading since August but still short of expectations for a reading of 650,000.
On another note, the Chicago Fed’s national activity index fell to -0.19 in February, down from 0.23 in January, with all four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index making negative contributions.
Finally, building permits rose by 1.55m in February, according to the Census Bureau, up from 1.34m a month earlier.
In the corporate space, General Mills shares traded higher after posting an earnings beat, while Darden Restaurants raised its full-year revenue outlook on the back of a jump in same-store sales.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
Dow Jones – Risers
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $280.55 3.03%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $123.07 2.99%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $52.91 2.98%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $28.82 2.45%
Boeing Co. (BA) $200.94 2.44%
Visa Inc. (V) $225.12 2.31%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $224.92 2.26%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $320.69 2.24%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $161.36 2.24%
American Express Co. (AXP) $165.97 1.98%
Dow Jones – Fallers
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $166.27 -0.22%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $150.98 -0.05%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $104.42 0.02%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $60.19 0.22%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $144.36 0.26%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $283.50 0.31%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $37.51 0.52%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $124.79 0.60%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $140.56 0.75%
S&P 500 – Risers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $319.99 8.88%
Accenture Plc (ACN) $273.46 7.97%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $804.37 7.06%
Carnival Corp. (CCL) $9.53 6.01%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $61.19 5.19%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $124.92 5.09%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $531.77 5.03%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $102.33 4.87%
Coty Inc. Class A (COTY) $11.74 4.63%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $118.19 4.08%
S&P 500 – Fallers
Altria Group Inc. (MO) $43.79 -3.01%
Comerica Inc. (CMA) $43.37 -2.58%
Genuine Parts Co. (GPC) $159.59 -1.87%
CIGNA Corp. (CI) $265.58 -1.80%
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) $29.70 -1.39%
American International Group Inc. (AIG) $48.29 -0.93%
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $0.78 -0.86%
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) $66.62 -0.80%
Medtronic Plc (MDT) $79.34 -0.75%
Allstate Corp (The) (ALL) $107.83 -0.64%
Nasdaq 100 – Risers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $319.99 8.88%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $804.37 7.06%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $90.47 6.22%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $40.71 5.74%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.95 5.63%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $61.19 5.19%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $124.92 5.09%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $531.77 5.03%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $671.00 4.78%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $118.19 4.08%
Nasdaq 100 – Fallers
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $137.89 -0.53%
O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $807.46 -0.19%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $72.14 -0.17%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $143.40 -0.04%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $103.90 0.00%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $0.00 0.00%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $0.00 0.00%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $0.00 0.00%
Shire Plc Ads (SHPG) $0.00 0.00%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $0.00 0.00%
