(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened without marked direction on Friday, with indices catching their breath after hitting record closings the day before, as investors await comments from U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Jerome Powell, later today.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index rose 0.6% to 39,781.37 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 was stable at 5,301.75 points.
The Nasdaq Composite takes 0.2%, or 32.429 points, to 16,401.83.
The three main American indices reached new records on Thursday driven by a recovery in semiconductor values following optimistic forecasts from Micron Technology.
“With summer rate cuts becoming more certain and a further rise in bond yields seeming unlikely, policymakers have given new impetus to the bull market,” said Raffi Boyadjian, analyst at XM.
Traders now rate the chances that the first rate cut will come in June at 70%, compared to 56% at the start of the week.
“The Federal Reserve sent a fairly clear message at the start of the week: a certain resilience in activity data will not be an obstacle to reducing rates as long as inflation shows downward momentum,” indicates Francesco Pesole , analyst at ING, in a note.
Investors will also closely monitor comments from a range of other central bankers in Europe and the United States, expected later today, for further guidance on the trajectory of monetary policy.
In terms of values, FedEx shares rose 6.7% at the opening after revising its profit forecasts on Thursday and reporting a 2.5% increase in the operating margin of its main division, Express. In its wake, UPS takes 1.2%.
Best Buy also gained 2.9% after an increase in recommendation from JPMorgan, while the gold groups listed on Wall Street Anglogold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold fell between 0.2% and 1.6% with the drop in prices of gold.
Tesla fell 3.1% after information from Bloomberg according to which the car manufacturer had reduced production in its factory in China, while Nike tumbled 7.5% after a warning on its turnover.
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(Writing by Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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