Wall Street rises on retail optimism around the holiday season

Data showed retail sales rose in October as Americans began holiday shopping to avoid empty shelves amid supply chain concerns, giving the economy a lift at the start of the fourth quarter.

The S&P consumer discretionary sector rose 0.9% and was among the top performers in early trading.

Walmart, the nation’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, raised its annual sales and profit forecasts. But its shares fell 1.9% as a supply chain crisis hit its third-quarter margins.

Retailer Home Depot Inc jumped 4% to hit a record high after beating quarterly same-store sales estimates.

Mike Lowengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade, said, “It is clear that inflation is not standing in the way of consumers … it can serve as a vote of confidence that the economy is still doing well.” ” financial.

The positive retail data helped investors look past comments from Federal Reserve member James Bullard, who called for a more rigid stance by the central bank in response to rising inflation.

Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab, said: “If the Fed reduces its purchases it will likely raise rates sooner than the middle of next year, but today’s data leans in that direction.” Not there.”

Investors are also fretting over President Joe Biden’s choice for Federal Reserve chair as Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends in February 2022.

Wall Street has been trading flat over the past few days on concerns over rising inflation and the prospect of slowing economic growth. Analysts at major Wall Street banks have also been somewhat weak on the S&P 500’s prospects in 2022.

However, a survey by Bank of America showed that investors were willing to end 2021 in a riskier mood.

At 10:01 am, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 171.63 points, or 0.48%, at 36,259.08, while the S&P 500 was up 14.42 points, or 0.31%, at 4,697.22. The Nasdaq Composite was up 31.58 points, or 0.20%, at 15,885.42.

Nvidia fell 0.4% after the UK ordered a thorough investigation into the chip maker’s planned $50 billion acquisition of chip designer Arm.

Gains in the Nasdaq were also backed by losses at major technology firms.

Chinese stocks listed in the US and other China-exposed sectors rose on optimism over talks between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Electric-car maker Tesla Inc rose 2.3% even as CEO Elon Musk sold $930 million in shares to meet tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of stock options. The stock had fallen nearly 13% last week after Musk began selling shares.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. also sued Tesla for $162.2 million for breach of contract related to stock warrants.

The number of rejected issues outweighs advances to a 1.20-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Issues decline in the number of advances to a 1.56-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 32 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 58 new highs and 105 new lows.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.