Overnight, US stock indices again edged higher in another quiet day of trading.
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3 per cent to surpass its record set last week. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2 per cent, eclipsing its day-earlier high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.2 per cent to sit just below its high set last week.
It was another quiet day of trading on Wall Street.Credit: Bloomberg
Wall Street’s indices have climbed to records largely on expectations for the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year, as inflation cools. More reports showing big US companies earning fatter profits than expected have also boosted the equity market.
Macy’s joined the chorus line of companies delivering a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts had expected. Its stock jumped 5.1 per cent.
The company, which operates 508 department stores across the United States, also raised the bottom end of its forecasts for upcoming sales and profit, spurring the advance.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Donald Trump’s truth social network, sank 8.7 per cent after disclosing a net loss of $US327.6 million in its first quarterly report as a publicly traded company.
Rates for mortgages, credit cards and other payments have become more expensive because the Fed has been keeping its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades.
However, an encouraging report released last week showing inflation may finally be heading back in the right direction has raised hopes that the Fed will cut its main interest rate once or twice this year.
Top Fed official Christopher Waller said in a speech that he is expecting to see moderation in economic data after reports recently came in weaker than expected on sales at US retailer and on the strength of American services businesses. That should help put downward pressure on inflation.
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However, Waller said that he would “need to see several more months of good inflation data before I would be comfortable supporting an easing in the stance of monetary policy”, unless the US job market weakened significantly before then.
Hopes for coming rate cuts to rates have sent Treasury bond yields lower, easing pressure on the stock market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.41 per cent, from 4.48 per cent late Monday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, slipped to 4.83 per cent, from 4.85 per cent.
With AP