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by Bansari Mayur Kamdar, Shreyashi Sanyal and Sinéad Carew
Jan. 12 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Tuesday, with the S & P-500 rebounding after five sessions in the red as investors appear to have been reassured by the US Congress hearing of the Federal Reserve Chairman ( Fed), Jerome Powell, which did not give rise to any major surprises.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.51%, or 183.15 points, to 36,252.02 points.
The larger S & P-500 gained 42.78 points, or 0.92%, to 4,713.07 points.
The Nasdaq Composite has advanced 210.62 points (1.41%) to 15,153.45 points.
Heard by the Senate Banking Committee ahead of the likely confirmation by the upper house of Congress of his appointment as head of the Fed for a second term, Jerome Powell pledged to prevent inflation from setting in.
He said the central bank was ready to start tightening its support measures, indicating that the economy is expected to weather the new wave of the coronavirus outbreak with limited impact.
Down nearly 1% at the start of the session, the technology sector, sensitive to changes in interest rates, rebounded and advanced 1.4%, contributing to the rise of the S & P-500.
“The market is watching Treasury bill movements extremely closely at the moment. As the rise in (bond) yield has started to slow, this is benefiting stocks linked to the tech sector,” said Matt Miskin, Co-Director of Investments at John Hancock Investment Management.
“There were no real surprises in Powell’s comments which may be helping stability,” he said, adding investors were also on hold ahead of the release on Wednesday. , inflation data.
Expected to rise by 7% over one year, the consumer price index in the United States is considered an important element studied by the Fed for the hike in its interest rates.
In addition, investors will look at the end of the week to the unofficial start of the earnings season. The big American banks are expected to report an increase in their quarterly profits.
Markets have been volatile since the release last week of the minutes (“minutes”) of the Fed’s December monetary policy meeting, which suggests an earlier-than-expected interest rate hike due to inflationary pressures.
Eight of the eleven major sectors of the S & P-500 advanced, including energy, which recorded the largest increase (+ 3.4%).
High-growth stocks including Apple and Amazon were the main catalysts for the S & P-500.
IBM declined 1.6% after UBS downgraded its recommendation to “sell” and significantly lowered the price target.
Moderna and BioNTech laboratories finished in the red, down 5.3% and 6.2% respectively, as the World Health Organization (WHO) said more data is needed to determine whether vaccines agents against COVID-19 effectively protect against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
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(French version Jean Terzian)