Wall Street surges on rates pause hopes
Wall Street ended sharply higher on Tuesday, lifted by Tesla, Nvidia and other megacap growth stocks after a drop in monthly job openings cemented expectations of a pause in interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 logged its strongest one-day gain since June 2, while the Nasdaq notched its strongest session since July 28, and both indexes closed at more than two-week highs. The sharp gains came after the Labour Department's Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed the number of job openings stood at 8.827 million in July, falling for the third straight month and signaling easing labour market pressures. Investors also parsed a report from the Conference Board showing consumer confidence in the United States fell to 106.1 in August, compared with expectations of 116. Interest rate futures signaled an 87 percent chance the Fed will keep rates steady at its September meeting and a 54 percent chance it will keep rates on hold through November, according the CME Group's FedWatch tool. "Investors are of the mindset that 'You know what, maybe interest rate hikes are indeed behind us. So let's buy back into stocks,'" said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. Nvidia climbed 4.2 percent to close at its highest ever. Tesla rallied 7.7 percent, even after documents showed a US regulator sent a special order to the electric vehicle maker asking questions about changes to the driver monitoring system for its Autopilot software. Alphabet received a 2.7 percent boost from a swath of fresh artificial-intelligence technology and partnerships unveiled by the Google-parent. The S&P 500 climbed 1.45 percent to end the session at 4,498 points. The Nasdaq gained 1.74 percent to 13,944 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.85 percent to 34,853 points. (Reuters)