US STOCKS-Wall Street rebounds as upbeat economic data allays slowdown fears

Nu Ride

27/06/2023 20:07

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        * 
      Upbeat economic data lifts mood 
    

        * 
      Walgreen Boots slides after profit warning 
    

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      Nasdaq on track for biggest H1 gain since 1983
    

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      Indexes up: Nasdaq 1.76%, S&P 1.22%, Dow 0.74%
    

  
 (Updated at 1431 EDT/ 1831 GMT)
    By Sinéad Carew, Sruthi Shankar and Johann M  Cherian
       June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes rebounded on
Tuesday from a recent losing streak as upbeat economic data
soothed investor worries about an imminent recession triggered
by the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes.
    Separate reports showed new orders for key U.S.-manufactured
capital goods unexpectedly rose in May, and sales of new
single-family homes surged in the same month, while U.S.
consumer confidence increased to a near 1-1/2 year high in June.
    While the economic data was encouraging, Rhys Williams,
chief strategist at Spouting Rock Asset Management, said the
market also rose on seasonal factors.
    "You'd a bad week in the stock market last week and a bad
day on Monday. It's just a bit of recovery," said Williams.
"There could be some quarter-end window-dressing too as we get
close to the end of the quarter."
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  rose 248.96 points,
or 0.74%, to 33,963.67, pulling the blue-chip index out of a
six-day slump. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC  was on
track to notch its best first-half performance in 40 years with
a roughly 29% gain. The Nasdaq added 234.80 points, or 1.76%, at
13,570.58.
    The S&P 500  .SPX  rose 52.89 points, or 1.22%, to 4,381.71
after falling in five of the last six sessions.
    Signs of U.S. economic resilience also boosted the Dow
Transports index  .DJT  and small-cap Russell 2000 index  .RUT .
  
    And the PHLX Housing index  .HGX  was up 3% after hitting an
all-time high.
    Traders are pricing in a roughly 77% chance the Fed will
raise interest rates by 25 bps to the 5.25%-5.50% range in its
July meeting, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool, up from
74.4% a day earlier.
    More economic data is expected this week, including a key
inflation measure, as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech
at the European Central Bank Forum in Sintra, Portugal, which
could provide cues on the path of interest rates.
    Hawkish comments from Powell last week stalled a U.S. stock
rally that had pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to an over one-year
high and the Dow to a six-month peak. 
    Despite recent market weakness, a growth stocks rally, an
upbeat earnings season and hopes of the Fed ending its monetary
tightening soon have set the main indexes on course for
quarterly gains. 
    Market heavyweights Microsoft Corp  MSFT.O  and Apple Inc
 AAPL.O  were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500, followed
by Amazon.com Inc  AMZN.O , Tesla Inc  TSLA.O , Nvidia Corp
 NVDA.O .
    Meta Platforms Inc  META.O  shares rose 3.8% after Citigroup
raised its price target on the stock.
    Snowflake  SNOW.N  climbed 4.6% after the cloud data
analytics company announced a partnership with Nvidia to allow
customers to build artificial intelligence models using their
own data.
    Walgreens Boots Alliance  WBA.O  dropped 8.9% as the
pharmacy chain cut its annual profit forecast on lower demand
for COVID-19 tests and vaccines.
    Other drugstore chains, including CVS Health Corp  CVS.N 
and Rite Aid Corp  RAD.N , also fell.
    Lordstown Motors Corp  RIDE.O  slumped 15% as the U.S.
electric truck manufacturer filed for bankruptcy protection and
put itself up for sale.
    Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a
3.01-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.73-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
    The S&P 500 posted 43 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 54 new highs and 137 new lows.

 (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar, Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru and
Terence Gabriel in New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and
Richard Chang)
 ((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223
8780; outside U.S. +91 80 6182 2787;))