The Dow soars more than 560 points as markets bet the Fed is done with rate hikes
US stocks soared higher again on Thursday as investors bet that the Federal Reserve’s current round of economically painful .
The Dow rose 565 points, or 1.7%. The S&P 500 was 1.9% higher and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.8%.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow are on track to notch their largest weekly gains this year and the Dow closed its best day since June.
Wall Street also celebrated on Wednesday after the . The Dow gained more than 220 points.
That positive sentiment remained strong on Thursday, with 85.5% of investors betting that the Fed will keep rates the same at its next meeting in December, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
“The year-end rally continues as interest rates plummet,” said Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates on Thursday. “While earnings season wasn’t as good as it could have been, with lots of cuts in fourth-quarter estimates, the soft landing narrative is fully in charge, the seasonal rally is arriving right on queue, and the market is once again demonstrating its ability to shrug off what appears to be daunting geopolitical risks.”
New data on Thursday showed that prices were coming down and that the might be easing: Labor costs unexpectedly dropped by 0.8% last quarter, according to Labor Department data; and first-time claims for jobless benefits also increased for the second week in a row. There were 217,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week that ended on October 28, an increase of 5,000 claims from the prior week’s total, which was upwardly revised.
The market’s focus now turns to, which is expected to show solid employment growth. Analysts predict 180,000 jobs were added to the economy in October, according to Refinitiv. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 3.8%.
In corporate news, investors are eagerly awaiting third-quarter results from Apple. The tech giant reports after the bell today. Shares of the company were up 2.1% ahead of the release.
Tech stocks pulled markets higher Thursday, with shares of Tesla up nearly 6.3% and shares of Nvidia up about 2.8%.
