US STOCKS-Wall St inches higher as S&P 500 flirts with bull market confirmation
28/12/2023 19:21
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Weekly jobless claims higher than expected
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China ADRs track domestic blue-chip stocks higher
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Indexes up: Dow 0.22%, S&P 0.17%, Nasdaq 0.14%
(Updates to 14:09 EST)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street drifted higher
in light trading on Thursday, as firming bets of interest rate
cuts in the coming year supported stock prices as market
participants eyed a potential bull market confirmation.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were modestly green, with
Apple AAPL.O and Microsoft MSFT.O among the interest rate
sensitive stocks providing the most lift.
All three indexes remained on course for monthly, quarterly,
and annual gains.
"This is one of the best end-of-year rallies we've ever seen
and a lot of this rally happened before the Fed pivot in the
middle of December," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist
at Carson Group in Omaha.
"It’s a nice reminder of how far we've come from the depths
of the bear market last year and reminder to investors that dark
clouds happen, but the sun always comes out again," Detrick
added.
The S&P 500 continues to lurk a whisker below its record
closing high of 4,796.56 reached on Jan. 3, 2022. The index was
last 0.1% below that level.
Should the S&P 500 hit a new record close, that confirm the
bellwether index entered a bull market when it reached the bear
market closing trough in October 2022.
"Reaching new highs after two years could be a subtle sign
that economic strength could be in the cards for 2024," Detrick
said.
Data released early in the day, including jobless claims,
pending home sales and preliminary trade/inventories all painted
a picture of a softening but resilient economy.
This scenario has helped cement bets the U.S. Federal
Reserve might cut its policy rate sooner than expected and could
pull off a soft landing by avoiding recession.
At last glance, financial markets have priced in a 74.1%
probability policymakers will cut the Fed funds target rate by
25 basis points in March, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
At 2:09PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
83.99 points, or 0.22%, to 37,740.51, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
8.16 points, or 0.17%, to 4,789.74 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 21.23 points, or 0.14%, to 15,120.41.
Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, utilities
.SPLRCU had the largest percentage gain. Energy shares .SPNY
were down the most, weighed by sagging crude prices CLc1 .
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies, including Alibaba
Holdings BABA.K , PDD Holdings PDD.O and JD.Com Inc JD.O
advanced between 1.1% and 2.8% as China's blue-chip stocks
staged their biggest jump in five months.
CytoSorbents CTSO.O slid 38.7% after the company's device
aimed at reducing bleeding during surgery failed meet the main
goal of a study.
Boeing BA.N fell 0.8% after the planemaker urged airlines
to inspect newer 737 MAX airplanes for a possible loose bolt in
the rudder control system.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.08-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 129 new highs and 33 new lows.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shubham
Batra and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by David
Gregorio)
((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))