NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes rallied on Friday after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a possible interest-rate cut during his Jackson Hole Symposium speech.
While his comments opened the door to a rate cut at the Fed’s September 16-17 meeting, Powell stressed the importance of the jobs and inflation data that will be available by then.
“Powell gave a clear, concise speech with a strong dovish tone at Jackson Hole,” said Jack McIntyre, portfolio manager at Brandywine Global.
“The message was that the Fed is going to cut policy rates at the September FOMC meeting... what we don’t know is whether it will be a hawkish rate cut where the Fed takes a patient path of lowering rates.”
Traders boosted bets on a September rate cut after Powell’s comments, now placing a nearly 90% chance of a reduction, versus about 75% before Powell’s remarks.
At 11:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 902.75 points, or 2.02%, to 45,688.25, hitting an all-time high.
The S&P 500 gained 103.53 points, or 1.63%, to 6,473.70, on track for its biggest one-day gain since May. The Nasdaq Composite gained 413.41 points, or 1.96%, to 21,513.72.
Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sub-sectors traded higher, with consumer discretionary jumping 2.7%, while industrials climbed 2%.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index climbed 3.3%, while most megacap growth stocks also jumped. Tesla led gains with a 4.7% rise.
US stocks have rebounded sharply from their April lows - when markets were rattled by President Donald Trump’s trade tariff announcements - and have been getting back up to record highs recently.
A spate of resilient earnings, optimism around trade deals and growing chances of interest-rate cuts have been some of the main gain drivers.
Earlier in the day, UBS Global Wealth Management lifted its year-end target for the S&P 500 for the second time in two months, betting on corporate earnings strength, easing trade tensions and expectations of interest-rate cuts.
Among other top movers, Intuit dropped 4.4% after the TurboTax-maker forecast first-quarter revenue growth below analysts’ estimates due to weak performance at its Mailchimp marketing platform. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 12.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 6.06-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 138 new highs and 35 new lows.
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