Wall Street sees biggest surge in two years
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq jumped on Thursday, racking up their biggest daily percentage gains in over two and a half years as a sign of slowing inflation in October sparked speculation the Federal Reserve might become less aggressive with interest rate hikes. Stocks in sectors across the board surged as the latest consumer price data cheered investors worried that ongoing interest rate hikes could hobble the US economy. The S&P 500 climbed 5.54 percent to end the session at 3,956 points. The Nasdaq gained 7.35 percent to 11,114, while the Dow Jones rose 3.7 percent to 33,715. One-time Wall Street darlings tarnished in 2022's bear market were among Thursday's strongest performers, with Nvidia jumping about 14 percent, Meta Platforms climbing 10 percent and Alphabet rising 7.6 percent. The Labour Department's data showed the annual CPI number below 8 percent for the first time in eight months. "This is a big deal," said King Lip, chief strategist at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco. "We have been calling the peak of inflation for the last couple of months and just have been incredibly frustrated that it hasn’t shown up in the data. For the first time, it has actually shown up in the data." Growing recession worries have hammered Wall Street this year. The S&P 500 remains down about 17 percent year to date, and it is on course for its biggest annual decline since 2008. The inflation data prompted traders to adjust rate hike bets, with odds of a 50-basis point rate hike in December, rather than a 75-basis point hike, jumping to about 85 percent from 52 percent before the data was released, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Amazon surged more than 12 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported that the e-commerce heavyweight was reviewing unprofitable business units to cut costs. Rivian Automotive Inc surged 17.4 percent after the electric-vehicle maker reported a smaller-than-expected loss and higher number of pre-orders. (Reuters)