A Wall Street sign is pictured in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York October 28, 2013. Portal/Carlo Allegri/File Photo/File Photo acquire license rights
- Salesforce falls behind as broker removes stocks from focus list
- PDD increases sales in second quarter
- Catalent benefits from agreement with Elliott to review review
- Indices up: Dow 0.39%, S&P 0.66%, Nasdaq 0.98%
Aug 29 (Portal) – Major Wall Street indices rose in early trade on Tuesday after a decline in recent monthly job listings boosted hopes of a pause in interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) found the number of job openings stood at 8.827 million in July, marking the third straight month of decline and signaling easing pressure on the job market. Economists polled by Portal had expected job vacancies of 9.465 million.
Investors also analyzed another report from the Conference Board, which showed that consumer confidence in the United States fell to 106.1 in August from 116 expectations.
“With both the JOLTS and consumer confidence numbers, you’re seeing exactly what you want to see: a gradual decline,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
“All of these things paint a picture of the potential for a soft landing.”
Several economic data are scheduled for release this week, including the consumer spending index and nonfarm payrolls.
The lack of hawkish surprises in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks at last week’s Jackson Hole symposium had cushioned stocks on Monday, with the focus now shifting to economic data to gauge how long the central bank will hold interest rates could keep elevated.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14%, benefiting most growth stocks, with Amazon (AMZN.O), Tesla (TSLA.O) and Nvidia (NVDA.O) falling between 0.8% and 2. up 6%.
Alphabet (GOOGL.O) gained 2.2% after Google’s parent unveiled a raft of new artificial intelligence technologies and partnerships.
Catalent (CTLT.N) rose 7% after the contract drug manufacturer reached an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management to conduct a review. The S&P 500 healthcare sector (.SPXHC), in which the stock sits, was up 0.3%.
As of 10:19 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was up 133.71 points, or 0.39%, to 34,693.69, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 29.35 points, or 0.66% 4,462.66 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was up 133.76 points, or 0.98%, to 13,838.89.
Salesforce (CRM.N) shares fell 1% after JPMorgan removed the enterprise software maker from its US analyst focus list.
Verizon (VZ.N) and AT&T (TN) were each up about 3% after Citi upgraded telcos from Neutral to Buy.
U.S.-listed PDD Holdings (PDD.O) shares rose 18.6% after the e-commerce company beat second-quarter sales estimates.
With a ratio of 2.65 to 1 on the NYSE and a ratio of 2.03 to 1 on the Nasdaq, the rising issues outnumbered the falling ones.
The S&P index posted nine new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq posted 28 new highs and 61 new lows.
Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta
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