“Time to change tone”
Interest rate expectations are pushing Wall Street into the black
December 11, 2023, 11:37 p.m
At the start of the week, the rally on the US stock market continues. The next Fed meeting next Wednesday is eagerly awaited. Investors are already expecting an interest rate break to be announced – but what the US Federal Reserve is planning for 2024 is much more interesting.
The good run on the US stock market continued on Monday. Regardless of the central bank decisions on both sides of the Atlantic that are due in the course of the week, he skipped Dow Jones Industrial the mark of 36,400 points. It thus reached a new high since the beginning of last year, as did the Nasdaq 100. Ultimately, the best-known Wall Street index went down Dow with an increase of 0.43 percent to 36,404.93 points from the day. The impressive rally since the end of October continues – albeit at a slight slowdown.
The market breadth S&P 500 gained 0.39 percent to 4622.44 points. The technology-heavy one Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.85 percent to 16,221.74 points. The recent upward movement was driven by the expectation that the central banks have made sufficient progress in the struggle with high inflation and could therefore lower key interest rates early next year. The US Federal Reserve Bank will announce its interest rate decisions in Washington on Wednesday evening.
The monetary authorities have significantly increased key interest rates in the fight against inflation since the beginning of 2022. In the end they kept their feet still so as not to put too much strain on the economy. A break in interest rates is also expected on the financial markets on Wednesday. “More important for the market is the indication of where Fed policymakers see interest rates next year,” said Neil Wilson, chief analyst at brokerage Finalto. “Investors are expecting big rate cuts in 2024, but so far Fed officials have not agreed to these ideas. The December meeting would be the right time to change tone and move closer to market forecasts.”
Prospect of takeover inspires Macy’s
The Dollar index rose by 0.1 percent to 104.07 points. The euro remained little changed at $1.0763. Gold slipped below the $2,000 mark and fell by 1.1 percent to $1,981 per troy ounce. Investors in the oil market initially left fears of weakening demand behind them. After the US Department of Energy announced that it would replenish strategic oil reserves, the prices for the North Sea crude oil Brent and the light US grade WTI were slightly higher at $76.12 and $71.42 per barrel (159 liters) respectively. .
The individual stocks were driven by the prospect of a takeover worth billions Macy’s at. Shares of the US department store chain jumped 19.4 percent to $20.77 after Reuters reported a $5.8 billion takeover offer. US rivals Kohl’s and Nordstrom each increased by around seven percent. They were also in demand Cigna with a price jump of 16.7 percent. According to insiders, the US health insurer has abandoned its plans for a billion-dollar takeover of rival Humana.
A price drop Bitcoin The shares of cryptocurrency specialists such as Coinbase and Marathon Digital, which lost between 5.9 and 12.6 percent, fell by 7.9 percent. Things also went down for Tesla. The electric car manufacturer’s shares lost 1.7 percent. A group of Scandinavian pension funds is siding with workers in the power struggle between the Swedish union IF Metall and Tesla.