US STOCKS-Wall St holds gains as Fed keeps rates steady

Paycom Software

01/11/2023 18:21

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click  LIVE/  or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
 (Updated at 02:xx p.m. ET/17xx GMT)
    By Sinéad Carew and Amruta Khandekar
       Nov 1 (Reuters) - 
    Wall Street's major indexes kept their gains on Wednesday
after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged as was
widely expected while acknowledging the economy's strength. 
  
        The Fed 
    held rates 
    steady but left the door open to a further increases in a
policy statement that acknowledged the U.S. economy's surprising
strength, but nodded to tighter financial conditions faced by
businesses and consumers.
  
        "The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected and made some
minor adjustments to the statement, but nothing dramatic," said
Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent
Advisor Alliance, Charlotte, NC noting that investors would now
turn their focus to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference,
which kicks off a 2:30 p.m EDT
     (1830 GMT)
  
        "Investors  will be listening very closely to Powell's
words. People will be trying to parse it. Is the bias toward
tightening or is the bias toward easing? I think everyone's
going to try to slice and dice his words to try to figure out is
the next meeting a live meeting." 
  
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  rose 43.69 points,
or 0.13%, to 33,096.56, the S&P 500  .SPX  gained 12.23 points,
or 0.29%, to 4,206.03 and the Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC  added
67.42 points, or 0.52%, to 12,918.66.
    Earlier the stock market got a boost from falling bond
yields after the U.S. Treasury Department said it will slow the
pace of increases in its longer-dated debt auctions in the
November-January quarter and expects it will need one more
additional quarter of increases after this to meet its financing
needs.
        Earnings has been a mixed bag for stocks even though
79.7% of the 310 S&P 500 companies that had reported at the time
of LSEG's latest update, had beat analyst expectations for the
quarter while only 16.1% had fallen short of estimates.      
  
        Still investors were disappointed by many quarterly
updates. 
  
        
    CVS Health
      CVS.N  beat estimates for quarterly profit, though its
shares fell as medical costs at its health insurance business
were high. 
  
        
    Estee Lauder
      EL.N  shares tumbled after the beauty products maker cut
its annual profit outlook. And shares in Payroll processor
Paycom Software  PAYC.N  sank after it projected for  downbeat
fourth-quarter revenue.
    Tinder owner Match Group  MTCH.O  fell after it also
forecast fourth-quarter revenue below estimates.
        Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE
by a 1.38-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.38-to-1 ratio favored
decliners.
  
        The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and 28 new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 20 new highs and 259 new lows.  
  

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rates and inflation Rates and inflation    https://tmsnrt.rs/3U8HdD2
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shashwat Chauhan in
Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and
Maju Samuel)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;
Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com))