NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Portal) – The benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) closed at its highest level of the year on Friday, as optimism grew that the Federal Reserve was finished raising U.S. interest rates and due to which could reduce inflation next year.
The index closed at 4,594.63 points, up 26.83 points or 0.59%, surpassing the July 31 close of 4,588.96, the previous high of 2023.
[1/2]Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 27, 2023. Portal/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire License Rights
U.S. stocks rebounded in November after three straight months of declines on better-than-expected earnings and as signs of easing inflation raised bets that the Fed had reached the end of its monetary tightening campaign.
On Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 index got another boost as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell vowed to be “cautious” on interest rates and called the risks of tightening too far “more balanced” compared to the risks of failing to bring inflation under control.
“Markets view today’s comments as a move toward the dovish camp,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in an email. “A few weeks ago Powell said policy was hawkish, but today he believes policy is ‘well in hawkish territory.’ I think it’s fair for markets to pick up on that subtlety.”
Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Edited by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker
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