Wall Street’s main indexes edged higher on Tuesday on gains in Microsoft and Amazon, as investors assessed remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that were clear from a monetary policy outlook.
Microsoft Corp rose 1.2% after a report said the software company was in talks to invest $10 billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
The gain lifted the S&P 500 information technology sector 0.3%, while a 1.6% gain in Amazon boosted the consumer discretionary sector.
Boeing Co dipped 1.3%, adding pressure to the Dow Jones, on a report that Morgan Stanley downgraded the US planner’s rating to “equal weight” from “overweight”.
Powell said on Tuesday that the US central bank’s independence from political influence is central to its ability to fight inflation.
Powell’s comments failed to satisfy investors jittery over comments from two other Federal Reserve policymakers on Monday.
The comments eased hopes that inflation in the United States had peaked and the Fed could soon signal an end to its rate hike cycle, fueled by last week’s data that showed a slowdown in wage growth. .
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, said, “He (Powell) hasn’t disrupted the market in any way and the fact that he stresses the need for political independence while tackling inflation certainly does.” Positive for the markets.” New York.
“But they haven’t touched on or hinted at what the Fed is going to do on rates in the future.”
Money market bets on a 25-bps hike at the Fed’s upcoming policy meeting were unchanged at 75%, with June seeing a terminal rate slightly below 5%.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting the consumer prices report from the US Labor Department on Thursday. Consumer prices are expected to show some moderation year-over-year in December.
The Fed’s aggressive monetary policy to curb decades-high inflation hit US equities in 2022, with the three main indexes posting their biggest annual declines since 2008.
At 10:18 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 111.74 points, or 0.33%, at 33,629.39, the S&P 500 was up 16.52 points, or 0.42%, at 3,908.61, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 74.50 points, or 0.70. %, at 10,710.15.
Broadcom Inc fell 3.3% on a report that Apple Inc plans to replace the former’s chip with an in-house design in its devices in 2025.
Outselling the issuances by a 1.32-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and 1.75-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index posted 1 new 52-week high and no new lows, while the Nasdaq posted 27 new highs and 14 new lows.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.
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