Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 20, 2023. Portal/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire License Rights
- Micron declines on forecast of higher operating costs
- Affirm Holdings is riding the Cyber Monday wave
- Boeing Gains as RBC is upgraded to Outperform
- Indices rise: Dow 0.24%, S&P 0.10%, Nasdaq 0.29%
NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Portal) – U.S. stocks ended with modest gains on Tuesday as investors analyzed contradictory comments from Federal Reserve officials and positive consumer data provided some lift.
All three major U.S. stock indexes lost momentum over the session but ended the trading range in the green.
“Even marathon runners need to take a break, breathe and drink some water. That doesn’t mean the race is over,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York. “It was a very strong November and investors have every reason to be optimistic about the end of the year.”
Market participants are now assessing comments from monetary policy makers ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next month.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday he was “increasingly confident” that the current level of the central bank’s key interest rate was sufficiently restrictive and even hinted at the possibility of rate cuts in the coming months if inflation continues to rise closer to 2- The Fed’s percentage target should fall.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee announced progress in reducing inflation at a pace not seen since the 1950s.
On the other hand, comments from Fed Governor Michelle Bowman suggested that another rake increase may be necessary to curb inflation in a timely manner.
“The (Fed)’s mixed messages are fairly normal and occur every time the Fed nears the end of a cycle, as certain members of the FOMC and certain Fed governors will feel more strongly than others that it is time is to stop tightening. Pursche added.
According to the CME’s FedWatch tool, financial markets have priced in a near-certain 98.9% probability that the FOMC will keep the target fed funds rate at 5.25% to 5.50% when it meets next month.
The crucial holiday shopping season is in full swing: survey data from the National Retail Federation suggests consumers plan to spend about 5% more this year.
This is in line with the Conference Board’s consumer confidence data released early Tuesday, which surprised positively due to improving near-term expectations.
Consumer Confidence
Later in the week, the Commerce Department will release its second estimate for third-quarter gross domestic product and its comprehensive personal consumption expenditures (PCE) report, which covers revenue, spending and, most importantly, inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 83.51 points, or 0.24%, to 35,416.98, the S&P 500 (.SPX) rose 4.46 points, or 0.10%, to 4,554.89 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 40.73 points, or 0.29%, to 14,281.76.
Eight of the S&P 500’s 11 major sectors closed in positive territory, with consumer discretionary stocks (.SPLRCD) posting the largest percentage gain. Healthcare stocks (.SPXHC) suffered their biggest percentage loss of the day.
Boeing (BA.N) gained 1.4% after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “sector perform.”
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings (PDD.O) rose 18.1% after the company beat revenue estimates.
Affirm Holdings (AFRM.O) rose 11.5%, extending its Cyber Monday rally.
Shares of chipmaker Micron Technology (MU.O) fell 1.8% after the company said it expects first-quarter operating costs to be higher than previously forecast.
On the NYSE, advancing issues outnumbered declining issues by a ratio of 1.24 to 1; On the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.07 to 1 favored the decliners.
The S&P 500 recorded 20 new 52-week highs and one new low; The Nasdaq Composite recorded 61 new highs and 103 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.03 billion shares, compared with the full-session average of 10.41 billion over the last 20 trading days.
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Edited by Richard Chang
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