(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Friday, buoyed by comments from an Atlanta Fed official the day before in favor of a moderate rate hike, helping U.S. Treasury yields rise. catch their breath.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 93.33 points, or 0.28%, to 33,096.90 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.42% to 3,998.05 points.
The Nasdaq Composite took 0.53%, or 60.62 points, to 11,523.60.
Remarks by Atlanta Federal Reserve Chairman Raphael Bostic on Thursday in favor of a “slow and steady” quarter-point rate hike sent bond yields down from their four-point high. month reached in the previous session, offering some respite to equity markets.
Wall Street had a volatile start to March after recent US data that showed the resilience of the labor market and the persistence of inflation, including Thursday’s number of weekly jobless claims in the United States, lower to forecasts.
Amid fears of a longer-than-expected rate hike, investors will be watching the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) monthly survey of service sector activity on Friday, scheduled for 4:00 p.m. CET. which is expected to post a decline to 54.5 in February from 55.2 in January.
In China, the United Kingdom and the euro zone, the services PMI indices on Friday showed an improvement in the sector’s activity in February, which also helped to support market sentiment.
China’s PMI in particular has revived optimism about a solid recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
“We seem to be in a tug of war between the theme of reopening China, which essentially means re-rating global growth expectations upward, and re-rating the Fed,” said Vasileios Gkionakis, chief strategy officer at change at Citi in Europe.
In values, Dell lost 2.3% after saying it expected sales and profit for the current quarter to be below estimates, due to a continued decline in demand in the PC sector.
Semiconductor maker Marvell Technology for its part dropped 10% also due to lower-than-expected first-quarter profit and revenue forecasts.
Retailer Costco, which has warned of the impact of inflation on demand for its products, is down 3.3%.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise gains 3% as the computer maker announced upbeat earnings forecasts for 2023.
(Written by Diana Mandiá, Editing by Kate Entringer)
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