Stock Markets

Wall Street ends up amid record low volatility ahead of eventful week

Published

4 months ago

June 9, 2023

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday regaining some of their momentum thanks to a rebound by technology stocks, while volatility dropped to record lows ahead of an eventful economic and policy calendar next week.

The CBOE Volatility index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, dropped to a fresh post-pandemic record low.

“What you are really seeing in the vol market is an unwillingness to engage,” said David Bianco, Americas chief investment officer for asset manager DWS Group. “You’ve just got paralysis in investors.”

Investors were sitting on the sidelines ahead of inflation data and a Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.

Traders have priced in a 73% chance of the U.S. central bank holding interest rates at the current 5%-5.25% range during its monetary policy meeting on June 13-14, according to CMEGroup’s Fedwatch tool. However, they see a 50% chance of a rate hike in July.

The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to move in step with short-term rate expectations, slipped from one-week highs to 4.51% after a sharp jump in weekly jobless claims signaled a softening labor market.

The U.S. Labor Department is due to release inflation data on June 13, the first day of the Fed meeting. The numbers are expected to show consumer prices cooled slightly in May but core prices remained sticky.

Meanwhile, a rebound by technology and megacap stocks helped major indexes regain their footing amid thin volumes.

Heavyweight Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) gained 2.49% as Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) initiated coverage on the company with an “overweight” rating, while Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corp, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc rose between 1.55% and 4.58%.

GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) tanked 17.89% as billionaire investor Ryan Cohen took over as executive chairman after the video-game retailer ousted its CEO and posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 168.59 points, or 0.5%, to 33,833.61, the S&P 500 gained 26.41 points, or 0.62%, to 4,293.93 and the Nasdaq Composite added 133.63 points, or 1.02%, to 13,238.52.

Among the 11 major S&P sectors, consumer discretionary led the charge, while real estate and energy indexes slipped, with the latter being hit by a drop in oil prices.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) jumped 4.95% after Piper Sandler raised its prices target on the stock to $500. The Photoshop software maker said it was offering its AI tool “Firefly” to large businesses.

Lucid Group tumbled 1.88% after the U.S. luxury electric-vehicle maker’s head of China operations, Zhu Jiang, said the company was preparing to enter the world’s largest auto market.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.16-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.02-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 71 new highs and 43 new lows.

Stock Markets

Crypto Markets Rally: Bitcoin and Ethereum Lead the Charge, Coinbase and Marathon Digital Shares Rise

Published

21 hours ago

October 3, 2023

Crypto Markets Rally: Bitcoin and Ethereum Lead the Charge, Coinbase and Marathon Digital Shares Rise

The major players in the cryptocurrency market, and , saw significant gains on Monday, with Bitcoin surging to $28,569.40 and Ethereum rallying to $1,727.98. Other cryptocurrencies including , which reached $24.01, and , which rallied to 27 cents, also experienced notable increases.

In the wake of this crypto rally, stocks related to the sector also saw substantial movements. Coinbase (NASDAQ:) Global Inc.’s shares rose to $78.46 and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc.’s shares jumped to $9.62 on Monday. Meanwhile, the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF increased to $7.03 and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust rallied to $20.12.

However, not all companies in the crypto-related sector experienced gains. Overstock.com (NASDAQ:)’s shares dropped to $15.50 and Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc., which has previously invested heavily in Bitcoin, saw its shares decrease to $247.66.

In addition to the market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum, other cryptocurrencies like , , , , and Polygon also moved notably on Monday. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:)., a leading graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturer that is widely used in cryptocurrency mining operations, also benefited from this uptick in the crypto market with its shares climbing to $447.66.

Overall, Monday marked a significant day for cryptocurrency markets as well as for companies involved in the sector. The reasons behind these movements are varied and complex, reflecting the multifaceted nature of this rapidly evolving industry.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Stock Markets

Fed’s Powell: Economy still working through the impact of the pandemic

Published

21 hours ago

October 3, 2023

Fed's Powell: Economy still working through the impact of the pandemic

By Howard Schneider

YORK, Pa. (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is still dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said during a meeting with community and business leaders in York, Pennsylvania.

“We are still coming through the other side of the pandemic,” Powell said, noting labor shortages in healthcare, ongoing difficulties with access to child care, and other issues heightened by the health crisis. He did not comment on current monetary policy or the economic outlook in brief opening remarks.

Stock Markets

Indian Equity Markets End September on a High Note

Published

4 days ago

September 30, 2023

Indian Equity Markets End September on a High Note

Indian equity markets concluded the month of September on a positive note, with significant gains recorded on Friday. The rose by 320.09 points to close at 65,828.41, while the NSE’s Nifty50 advanced by 114.75 points to settle at 19,638.30. The BSE midcap index also registered gains, reflecting an overall uptick in the market.

These gains were primarily driven by positive global cues and investments in the metal, oil & gas, and power sectors. However, the IT sector showed signs of underperformance as indicated by the Nifty IT index.

Market analysts Amol Athawale and Vinod Nair offered insights into market trends and challenges. They noted encouraging GDP data from Britain that further reinforced market optimism.

In broader markets, Authum Investment & Infrastructure hit an upper circuit of 20 percent. Yet, not all stocks performed well; Shreyas Shipping and Finolex Cables underperformed on Friday.

Among other stocks, Apollo Hospital Enterprises and Sun Pharmaceuticals saw gains while Tata Consultancy Services (NS:) lagged behind. The volatility index, India , also saw a considerable drop, indicating a decrease in investor fear or uncertainty about future market movements.

This positive performance of the Indian equity markets comes even as they face challenges including the underperformance of certain sectors such as IT. Investors will likely continue to monitor these developments closely as they navigate their investment strategies for October.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.