(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street opened higher on Wednesday morning, erasing part of its losses from the day before, thanks to the comments of Jerome Powell, the president of the Fed, who confirmed that interest rates would will soon decline.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones rose 0.5% to 38,781.8 points, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% to 16,067.8 points.
During his hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Jerome Powell said it seemed appropriate to ease the Fed’s monetary policy ‘at some point’ this year.
In his speech, the head of the Federal Reserve reiterated his cautious approach, highlighting an ‘uncertain’ economic situation and the lack of assurance regarding an imminent return of inflation towards the 2% target.
But investors preferred to retain his comments suggesting that insufficient or too late support could unfairly penalize economic activity and employment.
The day’s economic indicators, particularly those relating to the labor market, also supported the rating by reinforcing the scenario of growth that is neither too high nor too low (Goldilocks).
According to ADP, the private sector in the United States generated 140,000 new jobs in February, while the consensus expected more than 160,000.
With the return of appetite for risk, investors are repositioning themselves on the technology sector (+1.1%) and in particular on semiconductor manufacturers like Nvidia (+2.8%) or AMD (+1 .5%).
According to a survey carried out by BofA analysts, Nvidia shares are currently held in the portfolio by 67% of fund managers, followed not far behind by AMD, which is chosen by 35% of managers.
Oil prices are increasing their progression on the New York NYMEX market after the announcement of an anecdotal increase in crude oil stocks, but a decline in reserves of gasoline and refined products.
The April contract on American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) climbs more than 3% above $80.6 per barrel, to a new high of more than four months.
Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.