Wall Street’s main indexes climbed more than 1 per cent on Friday (Aug 22) after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a possible interest-rate cut at the central bank’s next policy meeting during his Jackson Hole Symposium speech.
Powell’s comments opened the door to a rate cut at the Fed’s Sep 16 to 17 meeting, but also underlined the importance of the jobs and inflation data that will be available by then.
“Chair Powell was able to talk about the balance of risk shifting and therefore the potential … shifting of policy would be appropriate,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
“Leaning into the fact that the labour market weakness is clearly the driver, as opposed to concern over the core goods price increases that we’ve seen because of tariffs … the clear message to the market is September is now very live.”
Traders boosted bets on a September rate cut after Powell’s comments, now placing a nearly 90 per cent probability on a reduction, versus about 75 per cent before Powell’s remarks.
At 10.19am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 667.07 points, or 1.49 per cent, to 45,452.57, hitting an all-time high.
The S&P 500 gained 86.80 points, or 1.36 per cent, to 6,456.97, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 352.99 points, or 1.67 per cent, to 21,453.31.
All 11 S&P 500 sub-sectors traded higher, with rate-sensitive real estate jumping 1.8 per cent, while consumer discretionary climbed almost 2 per cent.
An index tracking chip stocks gained 3.7 per cent, while most megacap growth stocks also jumped. Tesla led gains with a 5.2 per cent rise.
If current gains hold, the S&P 500 is set to snap a five-day losing streak after a broad selloff in heavyweight technology stocks kept US equities pressured this week.
The Dow and the S&P 500 are on track for mild weekly gains, while the Nasdaq is set for marginal weekly declines.
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 between the US and its trade partners 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 6.2 per cent after the TurboTax-maker forecast first-quarter revenue growth below analysts’ estimates due to sluggish performance at its Mailchimp marketing platform.
Workday shed 4.4 per cent after the human resources software provider provided an in-line outlook for the current quarter.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 12.14-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 6.3-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 101 new highs and 30 new lows.
