NEW YORK: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touched three-week highs on Tuesday as dovish comments from US Federal Reserve officials pushed Treasury yields lower, while investors kept a close eye on the latest developments amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Following the comments from top Fed officials on Monday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the US central bank does not need to raise interest rates any further, and sees no recession ahead.
The 10-year Treasury yield came off its 16-year peak on Tuesday, on track for its steepest single-day drop in nearly seven months, as trading resumed in the US bond market after Columbus Day, also known as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
“The larger picture is that the Fed is clearly shifting away from the prospect of a November rate hike,” said Thierry Wizman, global FX and interest rates strategist at Macquarie.
Megacap stocks Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia , Amazon.com, Tesla and Meta Platforms rose between 0.2% and 3.0%.
At 12:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 267.48 points, or 0.80%, at 33,872.13, the S&P 500 was up 47.13 points, or 1.09%, at 4,382.79, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 165.62 points, or 1.23%, at 13,649.86.
Traders put the chance of interest rates remaining unchanged in November and December at around 88% and 74%, respectively, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
Remarks from a few more Fed officials including Minneapolis’ Neel Kashkari, San Francisco’s Mary Daly and Board Governor Christopher Waller are also expected during the day.
All 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with consumer discretionary leading gains, while energy and healthcare lagged.
Israel hammered the Gaza Strip with the fiercest air strikes in its 75-year conflict with the Palestinians, razing entire districts despite a threat from Hamas to execute a captive for each home hit.
Israel’s embassy in Washington said the death toll from the weekend Hamas attacks had surpassed 1,000, while Gaza’s health ministry said Israel’s retaliatory strikes had killed at least 830 people.
Later in the week, focus will turn to inflation readings including September producer price and consumer price indexes as well as the Fed’s September meeting minutes.
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