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Equities acquire on in-line US inflation, Treasury yields dip

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs and the international equity index advanced on Thursday after a much expected U.S. inflation reading provided little surprise for relieved financiers and helped press U.S. Treasury yields lower.

The Nasdaq registered a record closing high for the time in more than two years as Wall Street rebounded from the previous session's decrease, which was because of investor jitters ahead of the U.S. individual consumer expenditures (PCE) price index data.

In the end, the PCE information, which is the Federal Reserve's. preferred inflation gauge, revealed the smallest yearly boost. in inflation in almost three years, keeping the possibility of a. June rates of interest cut from the Fed on the table.

Today's market movements truly reflect a relief that we. aren't seeing a re-acceleration in inflation. That's affected. set earnings markets in addition to equity markets, said Sid. Vaidya, U.S. wealth strategist at TD Wealth.

Financiers had been especially anxious ahead of the PCE. information after the most current customer rate index (CPI) and the. producer rate index (PPI) information were hotter than expected.

Markets are actually heaving a bit of a sigh of relief that. we didn't get the very same type of benefit surprises we saw in the. earlier inflation readings, said Mona Mahajan, senior. financial investment strategist at Edward Jones in New York City.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.37 points,. or 0.12%, to 38,996.39, the S&P 500 got 26.51 points,. or 0.52%, to a record closing high of 5,096.27.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 144.18 points, or. 0.90%, to end at a peak of 16,091.92. Its previous record close. was 16,057.44, struck in November 2021.

For the month, the S&P rose 5.17% while Nasdaq gained. 6.12% and the Dow increased 2.22%, with all three signing up. their fourth straight month-to-month gains. It was the S&P's longest. streak of month-to-month gains considering that the 5 months ending July 2023.

MSCI's gauge of stocks around the world. was also eyeing a record close as it rose 2.73 points, or 0.36%,. to 760.86.

The STOXX 600 index had actually ended unchanged while the. German DAX climbed 0.4% to a fresh all-time high after. information showed more affordable energy costs slowed inflation down to 2.7%. in February.

Somewhere else in Europe, French customer costs increased at a slower. speed however somewhat higher than forecasts, while in Spain annual. inflation was however dropped in line with expectations.

In U.S. Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year. notes fell 0.6 basis points to 4.268%, from 4.274%. late on Wednesday while the 30-year bond yield fell. 2.2 basis points to 4.3884%. The 2-year note yield,. which generally moves in step with interest rate expectations,. was roughly flat at 4.6477% compared to 4.648% late Wednesday.

In currencies, the dollar index, which measures the. greenback against a basket of significant currencies, gained back lost. ground after earlier alleviating following the data, which soothed. concerns that rate pressures could be seeing a renewed uptick.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar damaged 0.47%. to 149.96 yen after a Bank of Japan (BOJ) main meant the. require to leave ultra-easy financial policies.

The dollar index got 0.17% at 104.11, with the. euro down 0.28% at $1.0806.

Likewise in focus was bitcoin, which got. 1.82% at $61,665.00, eyeing its sixth everyday gain in a row as. well as its most significant month-to-month gain in more than three years. Financiers are also waiting to see if it can return to its late. 2021 record high of simply under $69,000.

The approval and launch of area bitcoin exchange-traded. funds in the U.S. this year has opened the property class to new. investors and re-ignited the excitement that was sapped when. prices collapsed in the crypto winter of 2022.

In commodities, oil costs slipped after U.S. information sent. mixed signals about the outlook for crude need from the. world's top economy.

U.S. crude settled down 0.36% to $78.26 a barrel and. Brent ended up at $83.62 per barrel, down 0.07%.

In precious metals, gold scaled a one-month high, increased by. the dollar decline as traders changed their attention from the. inflation data and to wait for commentary from Fed officials.

Area gold added 0.43% to $2,043.39 an ounce. U.S. gold futures got 0.5% to $2,043.10 an ounce.

(source: Reuters)