NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Thursday, narrowing losses this week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in early trading, a day after surging after the Federal Reserve’s announcement. Interest rate cuts are likely to be delayed But I don’t plan on hiking. As of 9:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 146 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7%.
Strong financial results reports from several major companies contributed to the market’s push. Qualcomm rose 8.4% in its latest quarter as profits and sales beat expectations. The company also revealed its expected range for future sales and profits, with the midpoint exceeding analyst expectations.
MGM Resorts International rose 5.9% as profit and revenue also beat expectations. This is due to an increase in traffic at MGM China as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted in Macau.
Carvana rose 35.1%, boosted by better-than-expected sales, after the used car retailer reported its latest quarterly results that far exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Peloton Interactive rose 8.4% after the company announced about 400 job cuts as part of a $200 million annual cost-cutting program. The company also announced that its CEO, Barry McCarthy, will step down. The company’s stock price fell to an all-time low last week.
These helped offset Etsy’s 17.9% decline, which was only roughly in line with analysts’ earnings and revenue expectations. The report cited a “remaining challenging” environment with customers generally becoming more selective when purchasing non-essentials.
DoorDash reported worse-than-expected losses, falling 12.5%. The company, which has been increasing spending on payroll and research and development, also provided an expected range for underlying earnings for the current quarter, but the midpoint was below analysts’ expectations.
In the bond market, which has helped drive much of the recent stock market movements, yields were mixed following some economic reports.
One showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. This is the latest sign that the job market remains strong despite high interest rates.
Another report, potentially even more disappointing for Wall Street, suggested that growth per hour of U.S. worker output in early 2024 will be weaker than economists expected. On the other hand, indicators comparing labor costs and productivity rose more than preliminary estimates. That could put upward pressure on inflation, one of Wall Street’s biggest concerns.
The economy is in dire straits and is expected to remain strong enough not to fall into recession, but not so strong that it will worsen already stagnant inflation.
With inflation readings stubbornly high this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that it would take “more than the previous “It’s going to take longer than expected.”
The Fed’s key interest rate remains at its highest level since 2001, and a rate cut would relieve some pressure on the economy and financial markets.
Since this year 6 or more predictions Traders are currently betting on only one or two, if any, rate cuts in 2024, according to data from CME Group.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose to 4.64% from 4.63% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield fell to 4.94% from 4.97%, a move more in line with the Fed’s expectations.
On Friday, the government is scheduled to release comprehensive monthly jobs data, which could further shake up expectations about when the Fed will eventually cut interest rates.
In overseas stock markets, indexes were mixed in Asia and Europe. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Market rose 2.5% while other Chinese markets were closed for public holidays.
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Associated Press writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
