NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes gained on Friday as traders boosted bets on an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month following remarks from policymakers, while technology shares steadied after a bruising selloff in the previous session.
Stocks have swung rapidly between gains and losses in the past two sessions, reflecting heightened investor anxiety over sky-high valuations in the technology sector and possibility of a rate cut next month.
Despite Friday’s gain, all three main indexes are set for a weekly drop of about 2 percent each.
New York Fed President John Williams, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said the central bank can still cut rates “in the near term” without putting its inflation goal at risk.
Traders now see a more than 70 percent chance that the Fed will cut its main lending rate by 25 basis points in December, up from a near 37 percent chance seen earlier in the day, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Global brokerages remained divided over the likelihood of a December rate cut after Thursday’s release of the long-delayed September jobs report, which marks the last employment reading before the Fed’s verdict next month.
At 12:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 649.61 points, or 1.42 percent, to 46,401.87, the S&P 500 gained 80.69 points, or 1.23 percent, to 6,619.45 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 247.12 points, or 1.12 percent, to 22,325.17.
Most megacap and growth stocks rose, with Alphabet leading with a 3 percent gain.
Nvidia was flat after a volatile session on Thursday, when its shares swung as much as 5 percent higher before closing 3.2 percent down following the AI bellwether’s third-quarter results.
Ten of the 11 S&P sub-sectors were trading higher on Friday, though most were headed for weekly declines.
In the latest on the data front, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday it had cancelled the release of October’s consumer price report. A November business report was also on the radar.
Intuit gained 5.6 percent after the financial management tools company forecast second-quarter revenue growth above market expectations.
Eli Lilly rose 1.5 percent, becoming the first drugmaker to touch a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.84-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.45-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 27 new highs and 280 new lows.
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