Stock traded up barely Thursday after some inflation data closely watched by the Federal Reserve got here in cooler than expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 14 points, or 0.04%, higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite was near flat.
Stocks gained following the discharge of the October Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, a closely watched gauge of spending. October data showed the index rose 0.2%, below the consensus estimate of 0.3% collected from economists by Dow Jones. The ten-year Treasury yield decreased after the report.
The moves followed a pointy rally Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P snapping three-day losing streaks after Powell appeared to verify a slowdown within the central bank’s tightening — a matter that is lingered in recent weeks. The Dow jumped 737.24 points, or 2.2%, on Wednesday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 surged 4.4% and three.1%, respectively.
“Whether intentional or not, Powell sent a message that, in light of the tightening that is already been done, he’s now more focused on the expansion outlook and the employment picture than he’s on bringing down inflation to 2%,” said Chris Senyek, chief investment strategist at Wolfe Research.
Wednesday also marked the end of a winning month for the most important averages. The Nasdaq rose 4.37% — its second positive month in a row for the primary time since a three-month streak ending December 2021. The S&P 500 and Dow rose 5.38% and 5.67%, respectively, to complete their second month of gains for the primary time since August 2021.
Salesforce’s stock shed 7% in premarket trading on news that co-CEO Bret Taylor is stepping down. Snowflake tumbled about 6% on light product revenue guidance. Discount retailer Dollar General dropped 6% after it cut its full-year forecast, citing higher costs.
Alternatively, Okta shot up nearly 16% after the identity management software company issued an upbeat full-year financial outlook. Five Below and Kroger gained about 9% and three%, respectively, following reports showing the businesses beat expectations for his or her most up-to-date quarters.
