US stocks end higher as rate hike fears fade
US stocks closed slightly higher on Monday as investors awaited guidance from a host of Federal Reserve policymakers later in the week on the central bank's policy path, with a large amount of bond supply also due to hit the market. Equities last week posted their biggest weekly percentage gain in about a year, as a weaker-than-expected US payrolls report on Friday sent Treasury yields lower on the view the Fed was done hiking interest rates and could start cutting them next year. Markets will look for more clarity on the Fed's intentions from officials speaking later in the week, including Chair Jerome Powell, and voting members such as New York Fed chief John Williams and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan. "Unless something in the economic data prompts it, you won't see them change their tone," said Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco. Expectations the Fed was likely done with rate hikes sent the S&P 500 up 5.85 percent last week and the Nasdaq up 6.61 percent, their biggest weekly jumps since November 2022. "Whatever that buying force was that sort of went rampant on Friday is not around today and so a lot of these names are drifting back down, and yields are a little higher," said Massocca. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.10 percent, to 34,096; the S&P 500 gained 0.18 percent, at 4,366; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.30 percent, at 13,519. The session marks the sixth straight advance for the Dow and S&P 500 and seventh straight gain for the Nasdaq. The streak is the longest for the S&P 500 since early June, since July for the Dow and since January for the Nasdaq. Walt Disney, Instacart and Biogen are among major companies reporting earnings this week. Dish Network plummeted 37.4 percent to close at US$3.44 after touching a 25-year low of $3.41 on news that the pay-TV provider missed third-quarter revenue estimates and CEO Erik Carlson would step down from the role. (Reuters)_____________________________
Last updated: 2023-11-07 HKT 09:44 